Book 20 - Heresy
by GailDunn2
Summary: Lucifer has taken over Heaven, and Castiel has made another ill-advised deal, this time with disastrous consequences. Metatron has a tale to tell that could be a game-changer, if it can be believed. Can he help the Angels drive Lucifer out of Heaven? What will he try to do next to derail the quest for the next Tablet?
1. Nobody's Hero

BOOK FOUR - MONSTER MASHUP

Chapter 1 - Nobody's Hero

Cas and Gail popped into the bunker, hand in hand.

She stood in the library area while he moved behind the bookshelf to where the safe was. The couple had what was still quite a significant amount of money locked away in there, and they would need it now. Cas couldn't finesse his way all through Europe, or wherever they ended up deciding to go, on the two-finger system alone.

And he had no illusions about the fallout that was going to occur once he and Gail had left. It wouldn't be wise to leave a trail of unexplained events behind them. Sam and Dean had plenty of money now, and so did Frank, and Hunting was what they did.

Cas entered the combination to the safe on the electronic panel and then opened the door. He smiled grimly. Sam had installed this new state-of-the-art safe in the wall behind these books a while back, after they'd gotten the first Tablet. Now it was large enough to hold all of the Tablets they'd acquired so far, with room for more. As he removed the envelope holding his and Gail's money from its niche, Cas felt a pang of guilt. Were they really going to do this? After all they'd been through to get those Tablets, were they just going to quit, and let their family and friends struggle along, trying to obtain the rest of them? How on earth would they do it?

No. He was doing it again. Cas was done with guilt. He had promised himself. They all called him selfish; at least, all his longtime Brethren did. Then, maybe he should just be selfish. He had to face reality, anyway. Their side had lost. Bobby was a human, Lucifer was in Heaven, and Crowley had finally turned his back on them, revealing his true colours. How was Castiel supposed to overcome all of that? His human friends were going to be stubborn and insist that there had to be a way, but his human friends would be deluding themselves. He wished them luck, but Cas was done.

He quickly checked the contents of the envelope. There was more than enough money in there for them to get a good start. Cas wasn't too worried about how things would go for them after that; they had always been able to manage. He could play poker pretty much anywhere that there was a casino. Maybe they could get jobs again, if Gail wanted to. But he only wanted her to work if she truly enjoyed what she was doing, as she had in Vancouver, in the poker room. There was no reason she would have to work, if she didn't want to. Cas may presently be living in modern times, but he was an old-school being at heart, and he believed in taking care of his wife, in every possible way.

Cas pocketed the envelope and swung the door to the safe shut. Now he was frowning, flashing back to the safe in Benoit's office, and what he'd had to do there. He didn't regret killing those men, though, or even the women. They had been monsters of the worst sort, rivals to Lucifer himself. Castiel's only regret was that Benoit and Kurt had not been there for the explosion. He idly wondered how long it had taken for the rats to start dining on Etienne. Did that make Cas a terrible Angel? Possibly, although back in the days of the Angel Wars, a murder like that would have been a slow day for Castiel.

He came out from behind the bookshelf just as their friends began to drift out of the hallway.

"Why didn't you tell us you were back?" Bobby said impatiently. "So, what's going on up there? Were you three able to kick him out? How's Patricia?"

"Those are a lot of questions, Bobby," Cas said nervously. Now that he was face to face with their friends, he realized it was going to be a lot harder than he'd thought to tell them. But he couldn't let that deter him.

"We just got back," Cas continued, moving to Gail's side. He looked at her face. Her expression was unreadable. The two of them continued to stare at each other for a moment. This is your show, her eyes were telling him. Go ahead and explain to our friends how you made yet another deal with the Devil, this time to abandon the fight, and to abandon them. Go right ahead.

Cas sighed. Fair enough. He was the one who had struck up the bargain, after all. Gail might be going along with it because she loved him, or because she wanted that honeymoon, or because she was his wife and as such, she had vowed to stick with him. For better or worse, richer or poorer, dumb or dumber. Who knew why he'd been lucky enough for her to say that she would come with him? But the bottom line was, this was his responsibility. Hopefully, it would be one of the last ones he would ever have to shoulder. Well, other than spending every moment making sure that Gail was loved and taken care of. That responsibility, he would be glad to carry.

"Well, what IS going on up there?" Bobby said angrily.

"Lucifer's running the show now," Cas replied bluntly. "Crowley stabbed us in the back."

"He wouldn't help you guys with Lucifer?" Sam inquired, frowning.

"That's right, Sam. He's decided to align himself with Lucifer, instead," Castiel said.

"That little Limey bastard!" Frank exclaimed. He looked at everyone. "Haven't I been saying for ages now that we shouldn't be working with him?"

"Well, you win the prize, Frank," Bobby said dryly. "None of us ever wanted to work with him, but most of the time, we had no choice."

"And most of the time, he was useful to us," Cas couldn't help but add. "But I suppose it was only a matter of time until his true nature emerged. I was just hoping that he would be smart enough to realize that it's folly for him to throw in with a being like Lucifer. If he thinks the Devil won't turn on him because they're such 'good friends', he's delusional."

"So what's the plan, Cas?" Dean asked him.

"Plan? There is no plan, Dean," Cas answered his friend calmly.

"OK, well, they just got back, you guys," Jody said. She could see that several of the men looked like they were about to blow, and she felt very discouraged as well, but: "Let's all sit down and brainstorm," she continued, pulling out a chair at the library table.

But Cas was shaking his head. "There is nothing to brainstorm, Jody. It's over."

"What do you mean, it's over?" Bobby said irritably. Damn Cas. Why couldn't he ever just get to the point? Bobby's mind refused to believe what he was hearing. Cas couldn't be giving up; he was just taking his sweet time in telling them what he had in mind.

"I mean, it's over, Bobby. There's nothing more we can do," Cas said with a touch of irritation in his voice now.

"You don't mean that," Frank said, astonished. He'd never heard Cas talk like this before. "You can't mean it."

"Oh, I assure you that I can, Frank," Cas said, keeping his tone steady.

"What were you doing in the safe, Cas?" Sam wanted to know.

There was no point in lying about that; they would surely notice it was gone. "I was getting our money, Sam."

"Why?" Sam pressed him.

"Because I'm going to take Gail on the honeymoon she never got to have," Cas replied. He took her hand.

Their friends all exchanged glances. Cas had to be kidding with this.

"So Lucifer's sitting in Bobby's chair in Heaven, and you're gonna take off somewhere, just so you can hump your wife?" Dean said incredulously.

Cas let go of Gail's hand and walked over to Dean, standing close to him. "You're my friend, Dean, but I will not tolerate that kind of language when it comes to Gail," he said quietly.

Dean let out a frustrated breath. "Fine. Whatever. But isn't that basically what you're saying?"

Cas's temper began to rise. "You're not getting it, Dean. None of you are. So let me try to put it in a way you might understand: We are screwed."

"But what about the Tablets?" Tommy asked him. "Can't you just continue to try to get those? You only need two more."

"Yeah, Cas," Sam agreed. "I know things look bleak right now, but we're three-fifths of the way there. If we concentrate our efforts on the two remaining Tablets, we can probably have this thing wrapped up by Christmas."

Christmas. Another stab of guilt. Cas looked at Gail again. She was being very quiet, most unlike herself. What was she thinking right now? If they up and left, her dream of a big happy family Christmas would go right down the drain. But he had to face reality. The instant he had shaken Lucifer's hand, he had flushed away the chances of ever having a big happy family anything. But, maybe family was not all it was cracked up to be. Look at how Castiel's family of Angels had treated him all those years. Look at the knife Crowley had just stuck in his back. And just recently, Cas had been reminded that his Brother had actually burned his wife at the stake, thousands of years ago. Crowley was damn fortunate their Father had blessed Cas and Gail with amnesia about that day, or Cas would have cut him to ribbons ages ago, for that one evil act alone. This made Cas wonder how many other incarnations he and Gail may have had together. He'd always thought it was just himself and Crowley throughout the years, acting out various scenarios for God's entertainment. Now, with this recent revelation, he had to rethink his entire existence. Perhaps it was a good thing they were getting away from it all. There were some pretty big questions that needed to be answered, as a result. Such as: What was Castiel's reason for existing? What was Crowley's? And how did Gail connect with the two of them?

But he was getting off topic now, allowing his mind to lead him off the main road. They had to get this concluded, first. After they left here, they would have all the time in the world to discuss these things. The trouble was, Tommy and Sam had raised a very salient point. Why would they not just continue on the quests to obtain the Tablets without him? Logically, that's what they should be doing. Lucifer being in Heaven shouldn't change their intention to obtain the Tablets, only intensify it. If he hadn't made his deal with the Devil, that's exactly what Castiel would be doing. But he couldn't do it, and he couldn't tell them why he couldn't do it. His only option now was to channel the acting skills he'd honed while questing for those very same Tablets.

"Then you'd better get going," Cas said to them. "Seeing as you're humans, it'll take you a lot longer to accomplish. Unless one of the Angels comes down on their own, you won't have too many powers at your disposal. And I doubt that you'll be seeing any Angels. The first thing I would do if I were Lucifer would be to put them all under lockdown. Maybe young Riley can help you a little, but he won't be able to do much, seeing as he's brand new to the Angel game."

Sam and Dean looked at each other. "Angel game"? What the hell was Cas talking about? Did he even hear himself?

"So basically, you're deserting us," Frank said bluntly.

Cas was very uncomfortable now. Yes. That was exactly what he was doing. Had he honestly thought that he could just walk in here and tell them that, and that everybody would be OK with it?

Frank brushed past Cas and strode over to Gail, who looked up at him, wide-eyed. "There's something extremely fishy going on here," Frank said to her. "I've never seen you this quiet before, not even when you were a baby. What the hell did he do to the two of you?"

Now, Gail was in the same boat as Cas. Because they had made their own covenant outside a few minutes ago, and sealed it with an essence-filled kiss, she was likely bound to the terms of the deal also. In any event, she couldn't afford to take the chance.

"Nothing," she said to Frank.

"OK, then Cas is being an ass. That's the only other conclusion I can reach," her brother said pointedly. "But then, if that's the case, why are you staying silent about it? I've never known you to be shy when it comes to advising him of the error of his ways before."

Despite how mad they were feeling, the Winchesters smirked. That was certainly true.

"Maybe that's because I don't see it as an error," Gail said, trying to stay calm. "Cas is right. We can't beat both Lucifer and Crowley, combined. They're too strong. And we don't have a God any more, do we? So, guess what? They win."

"They win?" Dean exclaimed. "What are you, nuts? I think we need to take you to the hospital, Gail. Your head's so far up your ass now it's gonna take major surgery to remove it!"

Damn Dean. Gail's lips wanted to curl up into a smile. But she figured she'd better not smile, not right now.

"And you," Dean said, peering closely at Cas's face. "I haven't quite got this figured out yet. If Lucifer didn't put some kind of a whammy on you, then you're either a world-class douche, or a giant coward, or maybe both. I'm surprised at you, and what's worse, I'm ashamed of you." He looked at Gail again. "And the same goes for you. In fact, I think you might be worse than him. Frank may not be your blood, but he's your family, and so are Jody and Robbie. And I thought we were your brothers, too. Cas, I could pretty much expect this from. It's not like there isn't a precedent." Dean glared at Cas, who hung his head. What Dean was saying was true. Cas had turned on his friends before, years before Gail had ever known them. And Dean didn't even remember that whole Demon thing; imagine if he did. Imagine how little he would think of his friend Cas then.

"But, you," Dean continued, walking over to Gail and staring her in the face. "You're just gonna walk out on your family like this? For what? Some kind of a little princess honeymoon? So you never got to have a honeymoon, so what? Boo-freakin'-hoo! Do you know how many Christmases and birthdays Sammy and I had to miss over the years? Ask Frank about that too, why don't you? At least you and your brother were both lucky enough to be able to get married. Do you think either Sam or I will ever have the opportunity to get married, or have kids?"

What he was saying was hurting her badly, and Gail needed to shut Dean up before he upset her so much that she blurted something out that she shouldn't. So she retorted, "Gee, Dean, I didn't know that was something you were even interested in. Aren't you trying to set the World's Record for Most Promiscuous Man?"

"Hey, I'm not the one who's letting Lucifer screw us over so she can have her husband screw her all night in some fancy hotel room," Dean shot back.

Cas flung his arm out, and the blue glow issued from his fingertips. Dean was lifted off his feet, and he went crashing into the bookshelves.

"I told you I won't tolerate that, Dean," Cas said, enraged. "If you have anything to say, say it to me. But you will leave Gail alone."

"OK, then, I WILL say it to you," Dean said, rising slowly from the floor. "But first, I'm gonna give you one more chance to explain to me, and to all of us, what's really going on here. Why are you leaving, Cas? Really?"

"I already told you that, Dean," Cas replied, cringing inside. "Now you're just repeating yourself. So, you will apologize to Gail, and then we will leave."

"Apologize? You're out of your damn mind!" Dean said, approaching Cas again. Cas had drifted over to stand beside Gail, as if doing so would protect her from Dean's verbal onslaught. "Actually, I was gonna ask Sammy if he could come up with a few synonyms for the word I want to call Gail now. I don't want to be too obscene when there's one lady in the room: Jody."

Dean was deliberately being insulting. He knew there was something very suspicious going on with these two. They claimed that Lucifer hadn't done anything to them, but Dean couldn't see any other explanation. He was trying to jar some kind of admission out of one of them.

But he was playing a dangerous game. Cas's eyes were flashing. "I would be very careful about what you say next, Dean," he said quietly.

"Really, Cas?" Dean said, strolling up to the couple. "So if I were to look at Gail right now and call her, oh, I dunno, a - " He leaned forward and then said a certain word out loud. While not the worst word he could have used, it was certainly in the top five pejorative terms for a woman, and it was sure to send Cas into a towering rage.

Predictably, Cas grabbed Dean, and punched him in the face. Dean staggered back into Frank, who grabbed him to steady him. Then Frank looked at Dean's face. "Look man, I love you like a brother," Frank said to Dean, "but if you ever call her that again, I'm gonna have to take a poke at you, myself."

Now Dean's lip was bleeding, his body hurt from its unscheduled flight into the occult section, and now Frank was mad at him. Yeah. Stellar plan.

Cas grabbed Gail's hand. This wasn't how he had pictured their goodbyes at all. He'd known that their friends would be upset, but he had deluded himself into thinking that there might be hugs and kisses, or a few tears, even. This particular tableau was a lot more representative of Cas's whole life. Good intentions plus bad decision-making equaled Cas lashing out, and then someone bleeding. This was how it always seemed to go for him.

He looked at Gail. "I'm sorry," he said to her. "It seems that I'm always dragging you down with me."

Sam was looking at Cas with narrowed eyes. Yeah, there was something going on here, all right. Cas wasn't talking like a guy who didn't give a damn. It was almost as if he was forcing the issue, just like Dean was trying to force it on his end. But Dean was never going to break Cas. If Sam could get a little time alone with Gail, maybe he could get her to crumble. But he doubted that Cas would step aside long enough for that to happen.

"Where are you going on your honeymoon?" he asked them in a chipper tone. Everyone looked at him. "What?" Sam said innocently. At least if they knew where their friends were going, they would know where they were.

"Who cares about a damn honeymoon?" Bobby piped up angrily. "Honeymoon, my ass. I never thought I would see the day when you turned coward, Cas."

"Me?" Cas bristled. "What about you? If you hadn't been afraid to sit in that chair, none of this would be happening."

Cas was right, but Bobby couldn't let him get away with that. "Yeah?" he retorted. "Well, if you hadn't been too chicken to do the job in the first place, God wouldn't have had to come to me."

"I wasn't 'chicken'," Cas said irritably. "I just wasn't cut out to do the job."

"Well apparently, neither was I," Bobby shot back. "But at least, unlike you, I had the guts to try to do it."

"That's not fair, Bobby," Gail weighed in. "It had nothing to do with having the guts to do it. Cas and I discussed it at the time. We both knew he wouldn't be happy being God. So, when he asked my opinion, I told him I didn't think he should take the job."

"Yeah?" Bobby said irascibly. "Well, too bad. Heaven forbid that Cas should be unhappy. Well, I hope you're both happy now. Why don't you just run along, then? I don't think I ever met two more selfish people in all my life."

Gail started to cry, and Cas was unsure of what to do. There were so many emotions fighting to come to the surface right now. His predominant emotion was anger, of course. Wasn't it always? No one in this room except for Gail understood where Cas was coming from. But then again, what else was new? They had never really understood him; not one of them.

None of them knew what he was doing now, of course. How could they? He wasn't selling them out at all; in fact, it was quite the opposite. He was protecting all of them, as usual. But he couldn't say so, because that had been part of the deal. Lucifer was extracting his pound of flesh now. It was a great sacrifice on Satan's part not to slaughter all of Castiel's loved ones, so he would need to see Cas suffer by alienating the Angel from all of them. That was the way these things worked, when you dealt with Lucifer. But this time, Lucifer was bound by his end of the deal also. He would be unable to turn around and go back on the bargain, so he would be unable to cause harm to anyone that Cas loved. Because their essences had been exchanged in the handshake, neither side would be able to renege on the deal. So Lucifer could not possibly cause harm to anyone in their circle, nor to any of the Angels. Conversely, though, if Cas were to continue in the process of procuring the Tablets, Lucifer would be free to kill them all, starting with Gail. But Cas had known what he was doing when he'd struck the deal, for a change. As long as Lucifer had been on the Earth, Cas had felt like he might have a chance to defeat him. However, the instant Lucifer had ascended to Heaven and took over the High Office, all bets were off. Lucifer just had way too many options now, and his finger was within striking distance of the launch codes. So, by taking the deal, Cas had employed the strategy of the preemptive strike. The Angels, his friends, and most importantly, his wife, would be spared. But then, Lucifer had thrown a couple of caveats in there, and a codicil or two, and by then, Cas had kind of painted himself into a corner. But he had stubbornly stuck with it, because at its crux, it was all about the heart of the deal, which was everyone's safety.

Lucifer had been slick, though. He had also somehow gotten Cas to agree to go away from them all. Thank God he hadn't been stupid enough to tell Lucifer he would also leave Gail behind. Not that he could ever have done so, of course. Even when Cas had been Lancelot, he could never have left her behind in Camelot. And Lucifer had apparently learned something from the previous unsuccessful deals, because this time, he had left Gail alone and allowed her to be with Cas, thereby sweetening the deal appreciably. Maybe that was how he had been able to sneak in that other part about Cas not being allowed to tell anyone why he was leaving. But Cas had been so far in at that point, he'd still felt like it was advantageous for him to take the deal.

But now, Cas realized what a Catch-22 this all was. He was being accused of being a coward, and from their point of view, Cas could understand why. He would have felt exactly the same way, were he in their position. Without the benefit of any sort of explanation, Cas did indeed appear to be a coward, and a traitor, too. That was why, even though they had made him angry, he couldn't blame them. But he wished they would leave Gail alone. She had already suffered plenty from her association with him over the years.

She was weeping openly now. How many times had she cried because of him? And how many times had she cried here, in this bunker? No. That was it. No more. If he had ever even considered reneging on the deal, or at least thought about trying to explain why he and Gail were going away, just one look at Gail now was enough to make the words dry up in his throat. The die had been cast, the bargain had been struck, and the next time he looked at her, he wanted to see her smiling.

"If that's what you choose to believe, you just go right ahead and believe it, then," Cas said with a touch of resentment, looking at them all. "And you may be right in a lot of ways, when it comes to me. But none of you has any right to call Gail selfish. The only thing she's ever done that has involved questionable judgement on her part was to marry me. But we can't hold that against her, can we? Why don't we just say I talked her into doing that, too? Then that way, we can blame me for everything." Cas's tone turned bitter now. Suddenly, he was back in Heaven, sitting at the boardroom table, listening to Xavier and Alexander give him another dressing down for daydreaming during the meeting. Then he was being berated by his Father for one of his many mistakes. His many, many mistakes. Not that his admonishments had been unwarranted; no, Cas wasn't saying that at all. But you could only take so much chiding, so many lectures, before you blew. And that was what was happening to him now.

"Let's go, Gail," he said, taking her hand. "We're obviously not welcome here anymore."

"You were the one who came in here and announced that you were leaving," Jody pointed out in a reasonable tone. "And all we're trying to do is figure out why."

Her logic was unassailable, so he had no response for it. But just as Cas was mentally preparing to wink them out of there, Riley stepped out from the hallway. Frank had taken him down to one of the bedrooms earlier to get some rest, and even though a bed wasn't necessary for an Angel, Riley had appreciated Frank's thoughtfulness. And he had taken Gail's brother up on it because he had wanted some time alone to regroup after his harrowing ordeal with Lucifer. He had also been more than a little star struck. Not only had he met Heaven's esteemed couple, Castiel and Gail, but Riley had been touched and healed by the Angel Castiel himself. That had been a transformative experience for young Riley. He felt stronger and more confident now, just by proxy alone.

But he couldn't believe what he was hearing now. Riley had been standing in the hallway this whole time, watching and listening, as Castiel and his wife argued with their friends. He'd been too timid to come out of the hallway and speak, but now, he couldn't restrain himself any longer.

"So that's it?" Riley said now. "You're just going to leave us to deal with him alone?"

Now Cas was uncomfortable again. He and Riley barely knew each other, yet the hurt look on the young Angel's swollen face was almost more than he could bear. "You're not alone," Cas said quietly. "There are millions and millions of Angels in Heaven. I'm only one of them."

"Yeah, but you're the greatest one," Riley said with disarming candour. "You're the hero who's going to save us all from Lucifer."

Cas's stomach was beginning to hurt with all the guilt and heartache he was feeling now, and he was angry at Riley because of it. How dare he? How dare he come in here with those big, innocent eyes and look at Cas with such worship in them?

"No one asked you for your opinion," he said harshly. "I'm nobody's hero, Riley. I never have been, and I never will be. You're all much better off without me."

Now Riley looked even more hurt, and he looked puzzled, too. "How can you say that? We need you to lead us, Castiel. We're relying on you."

"Well then, I guess you're out of luck," Cas said, and he winked himself and Gail out of the bunker.

They went to the house, and Gail started to pack their clothes. Cas sat morosely on the bed, staring at the wall. His cell phone had already rung several times before he had finally turned the ringer off.

"You'd better hurry, before they start pounding on the front door," Cas said to Gail. "Let's move this along. We need to get the hell out of here." She stopped what she was doing and looked at him.

Cas jumped to his feet and went to her immediately. "I'm so sorry, Gail. Please don't be angry with me. Then I won't have any friends left, at all," he said, trying to be charming.

It worked, to a degree. She touched his face briefly and said, "That wasn't easy for either of us, Cas. But since we're all we have left now, I think we should do our best to at least get along with each other, don't you?"

"You're right. Of course we should. Here, let me do that," he said, taking the pair of pants she'd been folding out of her hands.

"I don't mind doing it, Cas. I just..."

"What?" he said softly, staring at her.

"I just thought that this would feel different," Gail said sadly. "I just thought that we should be happier about going on a honeymoon."

Cas dropped the pants into the open suitcase, unfolded. "We will be happy. You'll see. Once we get there, I'll do everything in my power to make sure of it." He closed and latched the suitcase. "Let's go, Gail." He put his arms around her. "Please. You need this. I need this. Please."

She nodded slowly. He was right about that, actually. Paris had been really rough on them both, and now, everything had been turned upside down. If their world had been a snowglobe, Lucifer had not only shaken it vigorously, he had then flung it out the window, smashing it to bits. And Crowley? Well, she didn't know why his betrayal had surprised and dismayed her so much. King of Hell. Duh. It was right there in the title, wasn't it? She'd just thought that...Oh, who the hell knew what she'd thought? And who cared, really? If Cas could just give up, why couldn't she, too?

Cas's idea for a getaway had merit, she told herself. Gail knew their friends and family would not just let it alone. They would either view what he and Gail were doing now as a betrayal, or they would know that something was up. Either way, the Angels had better get out of Dodge for a while, as Cas had so eloquently put it earlier.

"OK, Cas," Gail said, touching his face. "You're right. Let's go."

His expression lightened. Did she really mean it? Was that an "OK, Cas", or was it just...OK?

His question was answered soon enough. Predictably, they spent their first day in bed.

Gail had promised herself that she wouldn't bring up any heavy topics for the first day or two. If the object was to recharge and regroup, any discussion of serious issues would sort of defeat the purpose.

But it was difficult for them to talk without bringing up anything that would circle back to their family and friends, or to the current situation. Cas was finding that to be the case, as well. So every time that the conversation started to turn, one of them would start to kiss the other, and talk would slip down the list of priorities.

Cas was kissing her now, using his tongue, and Gail was responding eagerly. They'd been in bed for hours now, and they still hadn't gotten enough of each other. This was how most people claimed that a honeymoon should be. They'd been this way with each other before, but there had always been some kind of crisis lurking in the background. Some reason why they only had a short time to spend together before they had to get up and take on their world. But there were no deadlines now, and nowhere they had to be. If they were feeling any guilt or any sense of obligation at the moment, by tacit agreement they had buried it, deep.

"I love you, Gail," he told her between kisses. "You are everything to me."

When all else failed, the two of them could always be counted upon to revert to their go-to language, the language of love. But this was way better than the types of words that they had exchanged with the others in the bunker, even though as it turned out, those words had come from love, as well. There had been a time when Cas saying something like what he had just said to Gail would have bothered her, but right now, she felt the same way about him.

"And you're my world, Cas," she replied. "And my sun, and my moon, and my stars." She reached down and began to stroke him lightly with her fingertips. He breathed in sharply, and his arms tightened around her.

Also, by tacit agreement, they had both let whatever remaining inhibitions they may have had fall by the wayside. Whenever she had started to touch him like that before, his first instinct had been to demur, or to move away. The guilt ran deep, all right. Thou Shalt Not. That was probably one of the main reasons he had gotten so aggressively carried away as a Demon. Heaven had always discouraged strong emotions and raw feelings, either good or bad. If it felt good, you probably shouldn't be doing it. There had been a reason why everything had been so starkly white. No colour whatsoever; nothing to break the monotony. No laughing or running in the halls. No shouting out loud, whether it be in anguish, or in joy.

But Gail had never been that way. She laughed out loud, she cried real tears, and she never hesitated to express her joy whenever she experienced pleasure, both in bed, and out. Castiel had always been in awe of those traits in her.

So when she moved down to take him in her mouth, he didn't protest. He merely closed his eyes and gave himself to her, just as she always gave herself completely to him. When her tongue touched him, he whimpered. When her hand closed gently around him, he said her name. And then, when her mouth was on him, he shouted out in joy. He laughed, and he cried, letting out all of the emotions he'd been suppressing ever since Paris. This was the most wonderful gift she had ever given him, and as always, when it came to Gail, it was coming from pure love.

When he was spent physically, he brought her body up to lay on top of him, pulling the covers over them immediately. The weather was growing quite chilly now, and he didn't want her to be cold.

She was looking at him, and her gaze was warm and loving. Her lips were on his now, and her tongue poked out, prompting him to open his mouth and give her his.

"You are my whole life," Cas said to her. "I would die for you. I would kill for you. I would do anything you asked of me. Tell me what you want, Gail. Tell me what you need."

Wow. Where did she start? She didn't really mind being his whole life right now, because he was hers. Nobody was going to die now; he had seen to that. And the only person she would like him to kill at this moment was Lucifer. But they had lost the hand, so they had gotten up and walked away from the table. Funny, she could remember a time when Cas had played poker for hours, and he had always walked away a winner. But that was only money; playing for people's lives required a different kind of nerve, didn't it?

"Would you really do anything I asked of you?" she inquired.

"Yes, of course," he answered quickly. "Anything you want. It's all for you, Gail. My life is for you."

Her heart swelled with love for him. He really meant it, too. It was a good thing that they had known each other for so long now, and that they knew each other so well. Otherwise, she might have been overwhelmed by the depth and the intensity of his feelings. And, not for the first time, she thought about how lucky they were to have found each other. Or had luck had anything to do with it? Now that she'd received confirmation that they'd been together previously in at least one incarnation, Gail began to wonder again whether their relationship had been preordained, and if so, how far back it went.

They would have to talk about that; in fact, they would have to talk about many things. What DID she want? For him to keep on loving her, just as he did now, for eternity. That was all. If she told him that, he would assure her that he already did, and that he always would. But what did she really need? She needed for things to be back to normal. She needed Lucifer's ass out of God's chair. And she needed for their family and friends to know what a huge sacrifice Cas had made on their behalf. He could claim all he wanted that he was fine with the consequences of the deal he had made with Lucifer, but she knew differently. Oh yes, they had to talk, all right.

But first, she wasn't above stealing another few minutes for herself, before she threw a metaphorical bucket of cold water on the proceedings.

"I want you, Cas. I need you. That's the way it's always been, and the way it always will be. Just love me, please," she said to him.

He smiled. "I would be happy to do that. I always have been, and I always will be. There's a reason that we didn't need to take the traditional marriage vows; that's because even death would not part us. I will always find you, and I will always love you."

But Gail was puzzled now. "We need to talk about that, Cas. If that's the case, why are you worried about me dying, then? If you and I will be together again and again, until the end of time, then why don't we just do a reset on this life? It's turned out pretty crappy, anyway."

She wiggled out of his arms and got out of the bed.

"What are you doing?" Cas asked her. Now he was the one who was puzzled. Why was she getting dressed now?

"Starting all over again," she told him, pulling her jeans on over her hips. She did them up, then pulled a sweater over her head. Then she turned on her heel and left the bedroom.

What the hell? What had that been all about? Was she angry with him? She hadn't looked angry. But he didn't like this; not one bit. She was behaving strangely now. What had she meant when she'd mentioned a reset?

Cas was scared now. He leapt out of bed and threw on his pants, not bothering to put on a shirt. He had to talk to her, to find out what she was thinking.

He'd rented them a suite on the top floor of the hotel, wanting Gail to have the finest accommodations with the best view for her honeymoon. As he entered the living room area, Cas could see her opening the sliding door that led to the terrace. "Gail!" he called out to her. But she didn't respond. She simply stepped outside, walking towards the railing. What was she doing?

He rushed to the open terrace door, watching in horror as she climbed onto the narrow ledge that led up to the railing. "Gail!" he called again. "Stop! Please! What are you doing?"

She had straddled the railing now. She looked at him calmly. "I told you, Cas," she said. "I'm starting over again. Lucifer's taken over, our family and friends all hate our guts now, and life is no longer worth living. But now that you've assured me that death won't separate us, all I'll have to do is jump. It'll be way quicker than burning to death. I probably won't even feel it when I hit the ground. And then, we can just start over. Too bad everyone else we know will probably be dead by then, though."

Cas couldn't believe it. She was serious. "I made that up," he stammered. "I knew that you felt sad about the way we left things at the bunker, and I thought you might appreciate some kind of reassurance."

"So basically, you lied," she retorted.

"No, Gail, I would never lie to you," Cas said haltingly. But he HAD lied to her, hadn't he? He could make no such assurance that they would be together like this again. Just because they had in the past, didn't mean that they would in the future. Now that Lucifer had taken over Heaven, all bets were off. Castiel had made yet another deal with the Devil, to spare his wife, his friends, and the Angels in Heaven, in exchange for giving up on the quest to put Lucifer back in a cage. It had been a deal borne of desperation, but it was the only thing he'd felt he could do at the time. But it had felt wrong from the get-go. Cas had tried to mask this feeling by acting glad that he would be absolved of any responsibility going forward, but it was really himself that he'd been lying to. "I lied to myself," Cas said quietly.

"Yes, you did, Cas," Gail said sadly. "And, by extension, you lied to me, too. I don't want to be married to a screw-up, and a liar. You know what the right thing to do is. Goodbye, Cas."

Then she jumped, and Cas screamed at the top of his lungs.

Cas sat up in bed, and he was still screaming. He scared Gail, who had been sleeping peacefully at his side, curled up under the covers. She jumped now, uttering a cry of her own.

He was breathing heavily, looking disoriented. It had been several years since Cas had had a nightmare. He'd had one when he was a Demon, but since he hardly ever slept, he'd forgotten what that was like. His heart was pounding, and he was sweating, even though he felt cold.

Gail put her arms around him. "Are you OK, Cas? What's the matter?"

Oh, God. Thank God. It had not been real. He hugged her fiercely, and now he began to cry.

"It's OK, sweetie," she soothed him. "You just had a bad dream. That's the bad part about sleeping, sometimes." She kissed his face.

Cas pulled out of the embrace so that he could look at her. He touched her face, cupping her cheek with his hand. It was really her; she was really here. She was looking at him with such sweet sympathy in her eyes. He didn't deserve her sympathy. He didn't deserve anything.

"We need to talk, Cas," Gail said quietly. "This isn't right. That's why you had a bad dream. That's why I was having one, too. I think we should get up and order a pot of coffee from room service. We can sit in the living room and talk. Or we can go out on the terrace, if you like - "

"No!" he exclaimed, startling her. He crushed her to him again. "I'm sorry, Gail," he said quickly. "I'm sorry," he repeated. "OK. Let's talk."

They were sitting on the couch in the living room of their hotel suite, sipping their coffee. Despite the seriousness of the subjects they were discussing, as Gail poured them each another cup, she was smiling.

"I swear, coffee smells like freshly ground Heaven," she said, adding cream to both of their cups. When Castiel had first drunk coffee, he'd added several spoons of sugar to each cup, but now he drank it sugarless, because that was how Gail took her coffee.

He was looking at her sadly, and she instantly regretted her choice of words. She guessed they were both screw-ups now.

When they had first checked in, they'd gone straight to bed. That's what you were supposed to do on your honeymoon, wasn't it? Soon they had been naked, caressing each other, and then they were making love, whispering terms of endearment to each other instead of doing what they really should have been doing, which was talking. Then, once they were both physically satisfied, instead of talking, Cas had asked Gail if she wanted to sleep, and she'd said that she did. They were both ignoring the elephant in the room, avoiding their problems. But they ought to have known that wasn't going to work. Had it ever worked for them before?

So Cas had conferred the gifts of sleep and an appetite on them both, and they had fallen asleep in each other's arms. But their guilt had been preying on their minds even as they slept, and that had led to nightmares. Fortunately for Gail, hers had just been beginning even as Cas's had woken him up.

He had finally calmed down from his fright, but even as he sipped at his coffee, Cas kept reaching out to touch her, as if trying to make sure she was real. She thought it was kind of cute. But the time had come for some honest talk between them.

Gail put her cup down on the table and grabbed his hand. "Sweetie, you know that I love you. But you need to hear the truth, and I need to be able to tell it to you. Okay?"

He nodded, but he couldn't speak because a lump was forming in his throat now. His eyes drifted over to the terrace. The first thing he had done when they had gotten out here was to close the drapes and lock the sliding door, as if hiding the terrace from his view would be enough to erase the horrifying vision he'd had in his dream of Gail jumping to her death. How did humans do it? He knew that many of them really liked to sleep, and Gail had remarked that she missed being able to do so naturally, sometimes. But humans could have it, as far as Cas was concerned. If sleep produced terrifying visions like that, he wanted no part of it.

Cas swallowed, hard. This was the part where she was going to call him a liar, and a screw-up, and say she didn't want to be married to him anymore.

"You don't have to say anything, Gail," he said quietly, taking his hand away from hers. "I already know. You don't want to be with a liar, and a screw-up. That's understandable."

Gail's forehead wrinkled, and she reached out for his hand again. He gave it to her, but tentatively, as if he expected her to yank her hand back at any minute. "No, Cas, that's not what I was going to say at all," she assured him. "I was going to say that you screwed up, not that you ARE a screw-up. There's a big difference. Everybody makes mistakes, Cas. Just because yours are pretty epic doesn't mean you're exempt." She looked at him expectantly, hoping to get a smile out of him. But Cas was down the rabbit hole of guilt and self-recrimination now, and he took what she was saying as his rightful admonition. Didn't he know better by now? Hadn't she told him before? How could anybody think that someone like him should be in charge of anything?

She could see the miserable look on his face, and she squeezed his hand. "Cas, I was kidding," she said.

"No, you weren't," he said unhappily. "And even if you were, you're right. Sometimes I don't know why our Father even allows me to keep on existing."

"I told you, Cas, we're done with talk like that," Gail said sharply. "I don't ever want to hear anything like that out of your mouth, ever again. You're a good Angel who made a bad mistake, Cas. That's all. Our Father made us all imperfect. But for the record, I think he made you more perfect than the rest of us, and that's why he had to give you a couple of tiny flaws. It's so the rest of us don't suffer too badly by comparison."

Now he did give her a small smile, and she was encouraged by that. She brought his hand up to her lips and kissed it. "Our Father allows you to keep on existing because he knows how much we all love you and need you, Cas," she continued. "And don't you dare argue with me about that, or I'll smack you one. Don't make me remind you that you vowed obedience and subservience to me. I'm not above playing the V-card, you know."

Cas looked at her blankly, just as Gail realized how that had sounded. "I meant 'V' as in vows," she amended quickly. "Boy, it's a good thing Frank or Dean hadn't been here to hear me say that. Jody, even. They would have destroyed me."

Then she frowned. No, on second thought, that wasn't a good thing at all. It seemed as if everything she wanted to say was a loaded comment right now.

Cas sighed. "Elephant," he said sadly.

Gail nodded. Now they were getting somewhere.

"The world's biggest elephant," she agreed. Then she was the one to sigh. "What are we going to do, Cas? Now they all think you're a selfish coward, and they think I'm a callous slut."

"Don't say that, Gail, please," Cas moaned.

"I have to," she insisted. "We need to speak plainly now. There's got to be a loophole to that deal you made."

"There isn't," Cas said bluntly. "I agreed to give up, and to stay away from our family and friends, in exchange for all of your lives. If I renege, he can kill you all. Starting with you, Gail. And he will. You know he will. I don't see how we can get around that."

She frowned. She didn't, either, but: "Aren't we still shielded?" she asked Cas. "Then how can he kill me, if he can't find me?"

"No, Gail. I'm not taking that chance," Cas said firmly. "He's in the High Office now. He could find a way."

Gail let out a frustrated breath. "Ok, YOU agreed to stay away. But, did I? No."

His eyes widened. "What are you saying?"

She touched his face. "Don't worry, Cas, I'm not leaving you," she assured him, and he sighed with relief. Gail smiled wryly. She knew how her husband thought by now. "And that's another issue we're going to have to address when we have time," she said to him. "We're married now, Cas. I'm not going to leave you. If we have a difference of opinion, or even if we have a fight, that doesn't mean we're automatically splitting up. I know we did that once, but there's no reason for you to be that insecure, Cas."

And she was right; he really didn't need to feel that way, not when it came to Gail. She had stuck by him through much, much worse. He was projecting his negative feelings about himself onto her, but that was ridiculous, and it wasn't fair to her. "You're right, and I am sorry," he told her, taking her other hand. Now he had both of her hands in his, and he looked down at the rings on their fingers.

"Feel free to play the V-card with me any time," Cas said, smiling gently.

Her lips twitched. "Maybe we'll keep that expression just between the two of us," she remarked. But then she sighed. It was only really funny when she thought of Frank and Dean teasing her and Cas mercilessly, but at the moment, neither of them would actually be speaking to her, she was sure. The last time she'd seen Dean, he had called her a word she had never heard him use with her before, not even in the Demon days, when it would certainly have been more appropriate. That one had hurt, and it had hurt badly.

"I thought I'd pop up to Heaven for a minute," Gail said to Cas. Then she braced herself.

"No!" he exclaimed. "You can't do that, Gail! It's too dangerous! I won't allow it."

She lifted an eyebrow. "Really? Aren't you cute."

Cas let out a frustrated breath. "I'm not joking, Gail. This is Lucifer we're talking about. I'm not letting you go up there alone."

Gail made a face. "What would happen if you were to enter Heaven with me, Cas?"

"I don't know," Cas said thoughtfully. He frowned. "Maybe nothing. But I don't know if we can take that chance. Why, what were you thinking?"

"I thought I'd try to talk to Chuck," she said. "Technically, it's me, not you. And I wouldn't be going to the bunker. I won't even mention the word 'Tablets'. But maybe we could use him as a go-between." Admittedly, Gail didn't know exactly what could be accomplished by what she was proposing. All she knew was that the lines of communication had to remain open until they could figure out how to circumvent the deal. She couldn't have everyone thinking she and Cas were traitors any longer.

Cas was thinking now. He went over the agreement very carefully in his mind, and then he went over it again. "I'll tell you what," he said slowly. "Why don't you call Chuck on Angel Radio? Be very discreet but find out what he knows. Maybe he'll have some ideas."

She nodded. "That sounds good, sweetie." Cas squeezed her hands. He still loved it when she called him that.

Gail opened up her frequency and made the call. She had winced, expecting a flood of voices. She remembered when she and Cas had gone on the run before the tribunal. He'd had to shut the frequency off for a while due to the noise. But it was absolutely silent. Nothing. She didn't know if that was good or bad, but she figured it probably wasn't good. She told Cas about it. He frowned. No, that didn't sound good to him, either.

Suddenly, Chuck responded to her call.

"Gail!" he exclaimed. "Thank God! Where are you?"

"I don't think I should really tell you that, Chuck," she said evasively. "It's complicated."

"He did this to you, didn't he?" Chuck fumed. "He stole you away from us."

Gail's forehead wrinkled. What? No wonder Riley had called her Ma'am, she thought. She was getting permanent lines on her face from all the puzzlement. Chuck was talking weird.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Chuck. Has anyone told you...anything?" she finished lamely. It was very difficult trying to communicate this way. She didn't know exactly what she should and shouldn't say. And that was a very odd comment that Chuck had just made. He sounded angry. He must have talked to those guys; that was the only reason she could think of why Chuck might be mad at Cas.

The truth was, Chuck currently didn't know anything about anything. He didn't even know that Lucifer had taken over Heaven. Chuck had just been sitting in the library, staring at the sculpture of the Eiffel Tower with a blank expression on his face. The spell held him in full sway now. All he could think about was killing Cas and rescuing Gail from Cas's evil clutches. He fantasized for hours about various scenarios where he could get Cas somewhere alone and punish him for what he had done to Gail. Chuck didn't know exactly what that might have been; all he knew was that Gail needed rescuing, and Chuck wanted to be the one to do it. Just the fact that Gail was calling him now was proof of that, in Chuck's mind.

"Come here to the library and talk to me," Chuck said to her now. "Just you, alone. Please, Gail."

She thought about that. There must be a reason he was asking her to come there alone. He must have news. But they couldn't take the chance and involve Cas. If Cas showed up in Heaven, he might technically be breaking the agreement. And Chuck had never been part of Team Free Will, nor had Gail ever been, so they should be safe to communicate with each other, because that would be outside the parameters of the deal.

"Let me think about it," she said. "I'll get back to you in a few minutes." Then she signed off.

And that was the moment that Lucifer walked into the library.

Chuck stood up immediately from his stool, backing away from the desk. He may be under the influence of an evil spell at the moment, but Chuck was not an evil guy, and he was scared. What the hell was the Devil doing in Heaven?

"Relax, Chuck," Lucifer said good-naturedly. "I just want to talk."

"How did you get here?" Chuck said in a shaky voice. His back was against the bookshelves behind the desk now. He may be brave and daring in his fantasies, but it was quite another thing having Satan just stroll into your workplace in Heaven, as if he belonged there.

Lucifer leaned against the front desk. "Your buddy Ethan invited me," he said casually. "He fell down on his knees and worshipped me." He picked up a date stamp, looked at it curiously, then set it back down.

"That's b.s.," Chuck blurted out. He couldn't help it. The Ethan he knew would never do that.

Lucifer shrugged. "No, it's not. He did." He looked around. "Where are the porn mags, Chuck? Or do you keep them all for yourself? On second thought, I guess you don't need those, though, do you? Perv."

"What are you doing here?" Chuck asked him.

"A reasonable enough question," Lucifer replied. "I'm your boss now, Chuck. I'm just going around, doing the meet and greets. Is there anything you want to tell me, Chuck?"

"Why? What do you mean?" Chuck asked him. His head was spinning. Did this have anything to do with Gail's call? It must; the timing was just too coincidental.

Lucifer picked up the sculpture of the Eiffel Tower and looked at it. Then he sniffed it, and then he grinned. Among his many talents, Lucifer had the ability to detect spells, so he knew that there was a hex bag inside the sculpture. Interesting.

"I mean, where are the Angels, Chuck?" he asked the Prophet. Lucifer now regretted having just let Castiel go like that. He couldn't be trusted. Lucifer knew that Castiel and Gail were shielded. So, how could he find out where they were? Simple. Go see Chuck, the pervy Prophet who had been peeping into the Angels' bedroom for months now, under the guise of prophetic visions. And now that Lucifer knew that Chuck was under the influence of Rowena's magic, that made the Prophet doubly interesting to Lucifer. He took another sniff. Envy, with a soupcon of Lust. Oh yes, Chuck was going to be useful, all right.

Chuck was still looking at Lucifer with wide eyes, but he had a slight smirk on his face now. "Where are the Angels?" he repeated. "Ummm...you know where you are, right?"

Lucifer waved his hand, and all of the books came flying off the shelves. Then he crooked his finger at Chuck, who found himself moving towards the desk. Lucifer grabbed Chuck by the front of his shirt and pulled him forward, until their noses were touching.

"I don't like sarcasm, Chuck, and I don't like smartasses," Lucifer said menacingly. "That's your only warning. So, where are Castiel and Gail?"

"I don't know," Chuck said in a small voice.

"You don't know?" Lucifer said. He picked up the sculpture. "Do you want to try that one more time, before this sculpture goes where no sculpture was ever meant to go? Then again, you'd probably like that, wouldn't you? How DO you threaten a masochist with torture, anyway? Maybe I should just torture Gail instead, then."

"No!" Chuck exclaimed.

Aha. Bingo. "Then, I suggest you tell me where they are," Lucifer said calmly, releasing Chuck.

"I seriously don't know," Chuck said. Then, seeing the darkening look on Lucifer's face, he hastily added, "But I asked her to come here, and she's supposed to get back to me." Then his own expression darkened. "She probably just has to figure out how to get away from him, first."

Lucifer's eyebrows rose. If Chuck could only see his own face right now. This could be a lot of fun, actually. Thanks, Rowena.

"OK, Chuck," Lucifer said, smiling. "Here's what I want you to do."

Riley sat glumly at the library table as the humans sat around him, drinking and arguing. Dean had plunked a glass down in front of the young Angel and poured some kind of amber liquid in it, ordering him to drink it. Dean's tone had been so authoritative that Riley had done it. But the taste of it had been so strong that he had started to cough, and that had aggravated the sores in his mouth. Still, the look on his face had been so comical that most of those gathered at the table had laughed.

"Sorry, man," Dean said, snatching the glass away from him. "I guess I forgot. But you looked like you could use it."

Riley nodded. Dean had only been trying to help, in his way. It wasn't so long ago that Riley had been a human himself, and so he knew how they thought. Most human guys wanted to fix things, and they each had their own ways of trying to do that. But Riley didn't see how this situation was going to be fixed. Castiel had deserted Heaven, pure and simple. It was like finding out that Superman was on crack, or something. Riley's heart was aching. How was booze supposed to fix that?

The table was divided. Bobby, Jody and Tommy all thought that Cas had deserted Heaven too, and even more importantly, that he had deserted them. But Dean, Frank, and Barry were of the opinion that Lucifer had done something to Cas when he and Gail had been up there, put some kind of a spell on him, or something. Sam was down the middle at the moment, waiting to see what kind of arguments would be on offer before he made up his mind.

"I know that you've all known him longer," Barry said, "but there's no way that the Cas I know would ever just quit on us like that. He cares too much about people."

"I dunno, Barry," Bobby said thoughtfully. "We've seen him do some pretty strange things before. Maybe he just snapped." There were a lot more things that Bobby could have added, but he was currently stewing in his own juices. He had the ultimate culpability here, not Cas, and he knew it. It wasn't Cas's fault that Bobby had resigned his job, giving up his Godly powers. Bobby had to take most of the responsibility for Lucifer's being in Heaven right now on his own shoulders. But he was also mad at Cas for just taking off like that. What the hell were they supposed to do without him? They were all humans, including Bobby himself, now. All they had on the Angel side right now was Riley, and he was so green he probably didn't even have wings yet.

Dean was feeling bad about himself now. He had flown off the handle so quickly that he hadn't really stopped to think about things. It was almost as if Dean had been Cas, in this situation. Dean had just blown a gasket, and he'd been especially brutal to Gail. But after the Angels had left, Dean had thought about it some more. He'd pictured their faces. Cas had had that line across his forehead. Dean should have known that something was fishy, right then and there. That was Cas's worry line, and it was only present when his friend was concerned about the safety of his loved ones. Cas had claimed that he was just giving up and going on a honeymoon. But then, why had that line been there? And why had he looked so stricken when Riley had confronted him? Dean held the icebag to his face and took another pull on his beer. He never should have gone after Gail like that. But she was Cas's Achilles Heel; everybody knew that. Dean had thought that if he could unhinge Cas, his friend would be upset enough to blurt out what was really going on. Sometimes, rattling an Angel's cage was the only way to get anything out of them. But Dean knew he had really hurt Gail with what he had said to her. Now he was beating himself up over it. If Dean had wanted to rattle Cas, he should have just taken a poke at him, or something. They had just come back from Paris, where they'd had to deal with a bunch of douchebags who had thought that women weren't even people, and Gail had had to endure all of those guys' sexism and rude comments. And now, she comes back home, and one of her best friends treats her the very same way. He hung his head. Frank probably should have punched Dean in the face, too. It was no less than he deserved.

Frank was in denial about the whole thing. He'd been mad at Cas too, initially. But Frank knew that there was no way. The Cas he knew would not just give up like that, and the sister that Frank knew wouldn't just let him. She was way too stubborn for that. If Cas tried to pull any crap, Gail would be only too glad to tell him what she thought about it. But she had been way too quiet throughout that whole confrontation. No, there was no way. The Angels were hiding something. He expressed that opinion to the table now. "We need to find them, you guys," Frank said. He had called and called Cas's cell after the two of them had left earlier, but it had just rang and rang. No Voice Mail, even. Frank had been incredulous, but Dean had just shaken his head. Cas. In all the years they'd known him, he had still never gotten around to setting up the Voice Mail on his phone. The second they saw Cas again and were on speaking terms with each other, Frank and Dean were going to hold him down and make him set up the damn Voice Mail. Too bad Gail didn't still have a phone, but she'd given hers up a while back. She didn't like to carry a purse, she'd said, and she and Cas were together all the time anyway. But Frank wished she had a phone of her own; he could just bet that she would have Voice Mail set up on hers, and she would probably check her messages regularly, too.

But Jody disagreed. "I think we should just leave them alone for a while," she argued. The way that the couple had left the bunker was bothering her. Whether Cas had actually snapped or not remained to be seen, but she thought that they could all benefit from a cooling-off period. Being the only other woman who'd been in the room at the time, Jody herself needed to cool off for a bit. She was mad at everybody right now. Jody was angry at Bobby for having just up and quit being God. He had screwed them all when he'd done that, Angels and humans alike. At the very least, he should have made sure that there was a replacement Deity in place, first. And what the hell kind of ridiculous thing was that to be thinking, anyway? Boy, if people knew how screwed up Heaven and Angels were, they would probably take better care of themselves, she thought. As for Cas himself, Jody thought that he had a lot to answer for. It didn't matter what his mental or emotional state was; he should just suck it up. He was the most powerful Angel they had, and he had been their General, for the most part. But for him to desert them all now, just when they needed him the most? She was extremely disappointed in him, but she thought she might be even more disappointed in Gail. Though Jody and Gail were sisters-in-law, they had never been especially close, but Jody had always thought well of Gail. Like Jody herself, Gail held her own quite well in a man's world. She was loving and sweet, but she also had a backbone, and Jody knew that none of the men would ever dare to push Gail too far. So where had Gail been throughout that whole exchange? Largely absent, as though she had mentally checked out of the conversation. And when Dean had started in on Gail, then called her one of those magic words that women loved to hear oh so very much, Gail had just taken it from him, letting Cas fight her battles. The Gail that Jody thought she was familiar with would have selected one of the thickest books from the library shelves and whacked Dean upside the head with it before she would let him call her that. But Gail had done nothing except start to cry, when Bobby had called her and Cas out for being selfish. Jody wondered, and not for the first time, what had gone in Paris after she and Frank had decided to stay at home. Sam and Dean had told them about poor Lise having blown herself up, Demon Paul and Henri, and the fact that they and Gail had been in the hospital when Cas had strolled in with Henri. He had told them that he had secured the Tablet, the white supremacists were no longer a threat, and it was time to go home. Tout finis. All's well that ends well. But, to Jody's knowledge, no one really knew how Cas had accomplished all of that, and no one had really asked. Then again, they hadn't had much opportunity. Cas and Gail had gone home, the boys had had a bit of a rest, and then Lucifer had taken over Heaven. There wasn't a lot of downtime in their world.

So Jody and Frank had had a fight about it. Jody thought that they should try to forge ahead. "We know who and where this psychic is," she said. "Why don't we go and see her? Linda can give us the information about the next Tablet, and we can try to get it ourselves. We can't just sit around on our asses and let Lucifer run things."

Frank frowned. "What about Cas and Gail?" he said.

"What about them?" Jody said, shrugging. "They clearly have some issues to work out. But we can't wait on them. We have to take action."

Dean agreed, at least in principle. He'd always been a big fan of action. But he was feeling so guilty about the way he'd talked to Gail that he was firmly in the "Let's find them" camp with Frank.

"You know, they might not want to be found, Frank," Jody argued. "Maybe we should just leave them alone for a while."

"I don't want to do that," Frank said earnestly. "There's something wrong with Gail, Jodes. She didn't look right. And she wasn't acting like herself."

Even though Jody had been thinking along those same lines, she shook her head now. "Gail's a grownup, Frank. We've talked about this before. She's not your little sister anymore," Jody told him.

"She'll always be my little sister," Frank insisted. "I'm the one who took care of her all those years. If she needs my help, I have to help her."

"I get that, Frank, but we don't know that she does need your help," Jody shot back. "And if she does, it's Cas's job to help her, not yours. She's an adult woman, and she and Cas are married now. You've got your own family to worry about. I think you just can't accept that she doesn't need you anymore."

A couple of the men at the table had winced at that, and Jody had regretted it as soon as it had come out of her mouth.

"That was harsh, Jody," Sam admonished her, and she got up from her chair and walked over to where her husband sat. "I'm sorry, Pookie," Jody said, and she leaned down and kissed him on the forehead. Frank's arm circled around her waist, and his lips twitched. Her comment had hurt, but she had not been wrong in her assessment of the situation, and Frank had always been a fan of straight talk. But she had zinged him with the pet name she had come up with for him one night when they'd been laying in bed, mocking the way Cas and Gail were with each other, and that was making Frank smile now. God, he loved this woman.

Jody had used the nickname very deliberately, and it had the desired effect. "Pookie?" Dean exclaimed, coming out of his funk. He looked at Sam. "Pookie!" Dean repeated delightedly, as Sam broke into a grin. Dean looked at Frank. "You know we're calling you that from now on, right. That is too good. Pookie!" he said again.

Frank glared at him. "Laugh it up, Winchester. Wait right here. I've been dying to break in a couple of new weapons."

"Oh, Pookie!" Dean cried out in an effeminate voice. "You're so manly!"

"Pookie, Pookie, you're so fine, you're so fine you blow my mind, hey Pookie," Sam chipped in. He glanced over at Gail's chair, forgetting for a moment that she wasn't there, and his smile faded. She would have loved this.

Dean did the same thing, and his heart hurt. She would have had the best line of all, he was sure. Gail would have teased her brother mercilessly, especially since he was always giving her and Cas a hard time about being so affectionate with each other. Which was kind of why he and Jody had been mocking the couple in the first place. But they were absent from their family right now, and Frank didn't feel much like laughing. Still, Jody's tactic had worked, to a certain extent. The brief moment of levity had served to defuse the tension that had been building between them all.

Jody looked at Bobby. "OK, Bobby. God or not, you're in charge here," she said. "What do you think?"

He sighed. Then he thought for a moment and said, "OK, Jody. Here's what we're gonna do. You and Sam go see that medium, see if you can talk to Linda. Riley's gonna help me on Angel Radio. I've been saying for a long time now that we should be translating those Tablets. I'm gonna see if we can get in touch with Kevin and bring him down here to do that. Once he's here, Lucifer won't be able to touch him."

"What do you want me to do, Bobby?" Dean asked him.

Bobby's beard twitched. "Why don't you and Pookie work on finding Cas and Gail?" Everyone around the table smiled, including Frank. "Sorry, Jody, but I don't think we should leave it alone," Bobby continued. "I may be pissed off at them right now, but we've gotta approach this like it's an investigation. If there's something strange going on with those two, we have to find out about it. We can't just sit around here moping. We've gotta grab Lucifer by the cojones and squeeze. Chop chop, everybody. Pity party's over."

Everyone felt better now. Bobby was back at the helm, and they had a plan going forward.

Frank stood from the table. "Great. Sounds good, Bobby."

"Where are you going, Pookie?" Sam asked him, grinning again.

"To get those weapons I mentioned," Frank said cheerfully. "The next guy who calls me Pookie is gonna die a slow, agonizing death."

Everyone laughed as Frank headed down the hall to the bathroom.


	2. Ghost Of A Chance

Chapter 2 - Ghost Of A Chance

Lucifer sat in God's office with his feet up on the desk, reading the personnel files. He was keeping himself occupied, just waiting for Chuck to call. The instant that Gail showed up in the library, Chuck was going to call Lucifer and let him know. Lucifer had promised Chuck that he didn't intend to hurt Gail; he just wanted to find out where Castiel was.

"I have some unfinished business with him," Lucifer had said to Chuck, "but he's shielded from me. We'll get his sweet little wife to give up his location, and then you can have her. She'll need some consoling when I kill her husband."

Chuck was deep in the throes of Rowena's spell by now. He'd been inhaling the poisonous fumes for days. So all he cared about at this point was seeing Gail, and seeing Cas dead. So he said, "And you promise you're not going to hurt her?"

"Of course I promise, Chuck," Lucifer had replied smoothly. "I'll be a great God, you'll see. I always live up to my promises."

"What if she doesn't want to tell us where he is?" Chuck had asked him. "He's got her thinking that she loves him. It's almost like she's under his spell, or something."

It was a good thing Lucifer didn't have any liquid in his mouth just then, or he would have spit it right in Chuck's face. That had been too funny. If poor Chuck only knew how funny that really was, considering who was putting the whammy on who, here. But he had an agenda of sorts, so he merely said, "Why, that's simple, Chuck. I'll just threaten to hurt you, then, and she'll have to give me the information. Or, she'll call him on that private channel they have, and he'll show up here. And when he does, I'll kill him. You can even help me, if you want. And then she'll be all yours."

The tiny part of Chuck that was still Chuck told him that this was wrong. Gail wasn't a possession, nor was she a football to be passed back and forth. And just exactly what had Cas done that was so bad that he deserved to die at Lucifer's hands? If Chuck had seen some very questionable treatment of Gail at Cas's hands in his visions, and he had, wasn't that ultimately between husband and wife? A Prophet's visions were generally accurate, but they were sometimes garbled, too. Cas couldn't have done anything all that bad to Gail, because the Gail that Chuck knew wouldn't stand for that kind of treatment. And the two of them were around other people almost all of the time. After Chuck had been dismissed from the Paris mission, Sam and Dean had been with Cas and Gail constantly. If Cas had mistreated Gail there, either one or both of the Winchesters would have kicked his ass. And if all it came down to was a little bit of a vigorous session in the bedroom that Chuck had seen and misinterpreted, well, was that really any of his business?

But the spell had him obsessed now, and Chuck was past the point of no return. He had been watching Cas and Gail in bed for a long time now. He'd promised Cas that he would stop, but he hadn't, and bad deeds led to bad thoughts, and vice versa. So Chuck had smiled at Lucifer, the Devil, and told him that he would call him as soon as she showed up. God help him.

Lucifer put the files down. God, this was boring. He'd nosed around the office for something, anything, more interesting, but he'd been very disappointed. Where were the nukes? Where were the Top Secret files, at least? Nothing on Crowley, Metatron, or Castiel. Not even on Gail. Not even on himself. Where was all the juicy stuff? He wondered if there was a secret compartment, or a separate room, that held all the explosive information. Where was the Book of the Dead? For that matter, where was the Book of the Living? And one of the items that intrigued him the most: the list of those souls that had been slated for the Netherworld. Where was that little gem?

So he'd tried to content himself with reading the files of the other Angels in the meantime, but their stories were boring, and he didn't care. Instead, he began to daydream.

Lucifer couldn't wait until little Gail showed up at the library. Then the fun would begin. His deal with Castiel had been legitimate, but as was always the case, he had added his own little spin on it. Contrary to what most of them believed, Lucifer ran straight deals, he just liked to add a little spice to the pot. When he and Aurielle had initially come to Earth and stayed in their first hotel suite, Lucifer had been flipping channels on the TV and had found something called the Food Network. Imagine, a whole channel devoted to food. There had been a show on there that had competing chefs making a dish using a few conventional ingredients, but then there had always been one really incongruous one in there that they had to use, as well. Lucifer understood the concept of recipes, even though he didn't eat, and his deals were very much like a stew. All the basics were there, but he would always throw one weird twist or turn of events in, just to keep it interesting for him. When he had proposed the deal to Ethan that would make the young Angel's wife and son immortal, he'd genuinely meant it. He just hadn't told Ethan the exact circumstances under which that was going to happen. Oh, well. That would be revealed, in a week or so.

Lucifer didn't lie when it came to his deals, and he didn't cheat, he just...obfuscated. More often than not, the entity he was dealing with just went ahead and made their own assumptions. And, really, was that Lucifer's fault? No. Of course not.

So it wasn't his fault that Castiel had assumed that Lucifer meant to kill his loved ones if Cas went back on the deal. Lucifer had merely said that they would die, which was the truth. But he'd never said that he would be the one to kill them. What fun would that be? Besides, on the off, off chance that Lucifer were to end up back in the cage, this deal would be the gift that kept on giving. Because Castiel's loved ones weren't going to be murdered, they were going to commit suicide. And Gail would be the first, because Lucifer believed in going right for the jugular. He smirked when he pictured poor, bewildered Castiel, trying to figure out why his precious kept on trying to off herself. Crowley was going to find this hilarious. He'd be Lucifer's best friend, once Crowley saw the anguish that Castiel was going to go through. Then, they would all start trying to kill themselves, one by one, like lemmings. It would be like dominoes toppling. Once Gail had made her first suicide attempt, successful or not, then it would be Dean, then Sam, then Tommy, etc., etc. Cas was soon going to be busier than a one-armed paper hanger, as the expression went. His poor, sainted Brother may not find it too amusing, but Lucifer sure did.

All he needed to get the ball rolling was for Gail to show up at the library. Chuck would be all over her, and then the Prophet would call on Lucifer, who would show up to menace the poor dear. Then she would have no choice but to call on Cas for help, and the instant he showed up to tangle with Lucifer, Castiel would have reneged on the deal, and then the festivities could begin.

Frankly, Lucifer had no idea exactly what would happen after that, but it would be fun to watch, regardless. If Gail succeeded in committing suicide, Castiel just might follow suit. There was a sickeningly sweet and slightly disturbing dynamic between Castiel and Gail, in Lucifer's humble opinion. One of them wouldn't want to live without the other one. Castiel had made it abundantly clear when he had been Lancelot that he was more than willing to die if Gail did not live, and now that the Angels had entered into the sacred bond of matrimony, Lucifer imagined that Castiel would not hesitate to fall on his own blade if Gail's suicide were to take. Then, if the two of them were dead and gone, there would be no stopping Lucifer. That little band of human ants were no threat to him whatsoever. Let them try to carry on without the Angels. Lucifer would squash them like the bugs that they truly were.

But, where would the Angels go, once they had offed themselves? Lucifer didn't especially care, but he had to admit that he was curious. He was pretty sure that both of them should be scheduled to go to the Netherworld. They were Heaven's elite, and they were married. Normally, that would rate the fanciest, biggest mansion there. But there was a fly in the ointment, and it was a big one. What about all of the despicable things that Castiel had done in the past, during the Angel Wars? The last Lucifer looked, even one of the acts that his Brother had performed during that dark time would normally have bought him an express ticket to Hell.

And that was where things got really interesting. It was Lucifer's opinion that Castiel had gotten off pretty much scot-free from all the terrible things he had done during that time. Okay, he had been executed at the end of the tribunal, but Crowley had told Lucifer recently that Castiel had had a lot of the Angels in his corner during the proceedings, and it was widely viewed that Xavier had had a vendetta against Castiel, and by extension, Gail, because of Xavier's own conservative personal agenda. But, what if their Father had a bigger-picture scenario in mind when it came to Castiel? Perhaps God meant for Castiel to go to Hell when he died, and Gail to go to the Netherworld. Then the two of them would be apart forever, and Cas would be condemned to spend the rest of eternity in his Brother Crowley's domain, under his thumb. Wouldn't that be one hell of a punishment? Lucifer tittered at his own joke. And even if Castiel's Angel family or his human friends somehow managed to keep him alive after poor Gail passed, they themselves would start falling, domino after domino, until Castiel was left totally and utterly alone. How diabolical. How delicious.

Lucifer picked up the files again, counting the minutes.

Jody knocked on Quinn's door, and when Quinn answered, she smiled at the couple who stood on her doorstep. Ever since she had let Cas and Gail in that one day, her walk-in business had picked up considerably, and a lot of her clients were couples. Quinn liked to think that it was good karma, her reward for helping out the good guys. She'd actually been waiting to see Cas and Gail again. It had been a while now.

"Can I help you?" Quinn said pleasantly.

"I sure hope so," Jody replied. "I'm Jody, and this is Sam. We'd like to talk to you about Cas and Gail for a minute. Can we come in?"

Quinn continued to smile, but her eyes narrowed slightly. They both looked friendly enough, but now that she looked closer, they didn't really look like a couple. She wasn't getting that vibe from them. But she wasn't getting an Angel vibe, either. She looked up at Sam. Wow, he was tall, even by Quinn's standards. And that was saying something, because Quinn stood taller than most women. He had a pleasant, open face. But Quinn had to be sure. She extended her hand to Jody to shake, and when Jody took it, Quinn knew that Jody was a human woman, who had once been a police officer. But she was retired now, and she was hoping to have another baby, before it was too late. But that last fact was something that Jody was keeping hidden from her husband for the time being.

Then Quinn took Sam's hand, and she was getting all kinds of things from him. He was a human too, and he and Jody had been friends for a long time. Sam used to come here to the house to see Oliver sometimes. He believed he had gotten over the Angel Gail, when in fact he had not quite done so. He was still in love with her, but he was fighting it. She and Cas were married now, and Sam was way too honourable of a man to tell her how he felt now, or to ever come between them.

Sometimes, Quinn's gift was more of a curse than a blessing. She took her hand away from Sam's, before she could get too much more. Besides, she'd gotten what she'd been looking for, which was confirmation that the couple were on the side of Good, and that they meant her no harm.

She let them into the house. They explained to her that Cas and Gail were on other business for Heaven, so Sam and Jody had been sent as emissaries to talk to Linda. Even though they were humans, Linda was acquainted with them both, and she would be happy to talk to them, they assured Quinn.

She nodded. That was fine with her. The sooner the better, as far as Quinn was concerned. She had been starting to get vague, unsettling pictures in her head.

Linda appeared the instant they all sat down to make the connection, and she was fuming.

"Where are Cas and Gail?" she demanded. "Where's everybody been?"

"Sorry, Linda," Sam said, bemused. He and Dean had dealt with a lot of vengeful, angry spirits in their time, but this was the first time he'd ever been personally acquainted with the angry ghost. It was strange, really. Linda looked like she could still be alive. "It's gotten complicated," he continued.

"Ohhhh...complicated," Linda said sarcastically. "Lucifer's sitting in God's office, and it's complicated. No kidding."

Quinn gasped, and they all looked at her. "Sorry," she said sheepishly. That had been unprofessional on her part, but she couldn't believe what Linda had just said.

"Yeah. That's right. I know all about it," Linda told them. "Mark contacted Luke here. Apparently, those two have some kind of private frequency, just like Cas and Gail have. Mark was crowing. Said it was Lucifer's time now, and Luke could take a flying leap. He said that Lucifer had taken care of Cas and Gail, and that he could blab about the Tablets all he wanted now, because it was all over."

Jody and Sam looked at each other, amazed. Linda may be dead, but apparently, she knew way more than they did.

"Has anybody heard from Kevin?" Linda asked them now. "How is he?"

"I'm sorry, Linda, but we don't know right now," Jody told her. "We might be hearing from him soon, though." She explained what Bobby had said about wanting to start translating the Tablets.

"He'd be great at that," Linda said quickly. "Bobby needs to get him on that. He's very smart. I'm sure he'll do a great job."

Jody's lips twitched. Once a proud mom, always a proud mom. But she could bet that a good part of Linda's enthusiasm stemmed from the fact that Kevin would be safe under the protections of the bunker. Jody got that.

"Did he say what Lucifer said he had done to 'take care' of Cas and Gail?" Sam asked Linda.

"No, just that they were giving up on the search for the Tablets. Lucifer made some kind of a binding deal with Cas to get Cas to walk away from the table. That's all I know about that," Linda replied. Then she frowned. "If that's true, you'd better let me know where Cas is, so I can go there and haunt him," Linda continued with grim humour. "If I find out he's deserted us, I'll find a way, and I'll kill him."

"He hasn't deserted us," Sam said quickly. He was thinking furiously now. Sam thought he knew what was going on. Cas had made sokme kind of a desperation deal with the Devil that had seemed like a good idea to him at the time. Probably something like getting Lucifer to promise he wouldn't kill them all, in exchange for Cas walking away from the game. Lucifer must be feeling really threatened by their success thus far in getting the Tablets. If he'd ever had any doubt that those Tablets were the key, they were all gone now. He gave Jody's hand a squeeze. She'd been absolutely right. With or without Cas and Gail, they had to keep going. There were only two more Tablets to get. But at least they could confirm to the others now that Cas wasn't a traitor, nor was he a coward. If the deal was a bad one, well, Cas had meant well. Hadn't they all made those kinds of well-intentioned mistakes before?

"Can you give us any information on where to find the two remaining Tablets?" he asked Linda now.

She looked thoughtful. "You know, it's funny. Before Luke got that message from Mark, he was singing like a canary. But now he's gotten reticent. It's almost like he's scared of Lucifer now, or something. Maybe he thought that Lucifer would never be able to take over Heaven. I never thought I'd see the day, either. Do we know how he did it?"

"No," Jody answered shortly. That was a good question. They had never found that out. When Bobby had arrived at the bunker, he'd had no clue how Lucifer had gained access to Heaven. She told Linda this now.

"Anyway, Luke's been really coy about giving me information lately," Linda said. "I don't know what he thinks Lucifer can do to him here, but it's like he's scared, or something."

Sam sighed. "OK, Linda. Thanks anyway. Maybe we'll check back with you in a few days and see if there's been any progress."

"I didn't say I didn't have any information," she said, a bit sharply. "Just that he's being very cagey about it. Sit down, Sam."

He looked at her, startled. He'd been about to break the connection, too.

"Sorry, Sam, I didn't mean to use my Dragon Lady voice," Linda said, breaking into a grin. "I just didn't want you to leave until I was able to share what I did find out with you. I'm kind of proud of myself for getting as much as I did out of the tight-lipped bastard."

Now Sam and Jody grinned too, and Quinn smiled. She would never have imagined that Angels would talk like that or interact with humans in this way. But the way this trio was talking, so free and unforced, suggested that they were like members of a big family. That gave her hope. But now, she was concerned about Cas and Gail. Quinn might be on the outside looking in, but she was starting to get emotionally invested in these people. And she liked Cas and Gail. They were a sweet couple, and Quinn could tell that they were deeply in love. Linda was a little salty at times, but Quinn didn't blame her for that. It must be really tough being stuck in the Netherworld, out of contact with everyone. Quinn could tell that Linda really loved her son, and she loved her friends, and the feeling was mutual.

"Yes, ma'am," Sam said, smirking.

"That's more like it," Linda teased back. "Anyway, he did tell me that the Hell Tablet is in the Wallachian region of Romania."

Sam perked up. "Romania? The Wallachian region? That's Transylvania, isn't it?"

"Yep," Linda confirmed. "I can only imagine the jokes that'll be flying around the bunker." She sighed. She really did miss her friends.

Jody smiled. So could she, and her husband was going to be one of the worst offenders. Then her smile faded. So would Gail be, if she were here. They had to figure out how to help Cas and Gail too, while they were at it. She had come to the same conclusion that Sam had by now. How on earth could they ever have seriously thought that Cas would just desert them like that, and that Gail would merely go along with it? They should have known better.

"Is that all he said, Linda?" Sam asked.

"No, but I told you, he was really cagey about it," she replied. "Then, he started talking in riddles. He said the Tablet's in a castle that's not really a castle, which belonged to a hero who's perceived as a villain."

Sam was thoughtful now. At first blush, that didn't seem to be very helpful. But he thought he might actually have an inkling of what Luke was getting at. "Is that it?" he asked Linda.

"Yeah. Sorry, Sam."

"That's OK; I think we can work with that," he said to her. "Good job, Linda. Thanks a lot."

"Yeah, you're welcome," she replied. "And, Sam? Please make sure Kevin's OK."

"We will, Linda," he confirmed.

Then the candle went out, and Quinn rose, opening the black drapes.

Jody was eyeing Sam suspiciously. "Why do I get the feeling that you know exactly what she's talking about?" she asked him.

He smiled. "Well, I don't really know where, but I'm pretty sure I know who. We'd better get busy making silver crosses, Jodes. We're going to Dracula's castle."

"So I'll just pop over there really quick and find out what's going on," Gail said to Cas. "We'll get Chuck to send a message to Riley and let him know that we're OK, but we can't go to the bunker right now. I'll tell him not to even use the word 'Tablet', just to be on the safe side. They might already have thought to go and see Quinn, but I'll make sure to mention that, too. Is there anything else you can think of?"

Cas was rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Maybe we should see if Sam can try his hand at translating the ancient language on the Tablets. There might be something on them that is of use to us. Perhaps he could start with the Heaven Tablet. It's worth a look."

Gail nodded. "That's an excellent idea, sweetie. I'll pass that along, too."

He grabbed her hands. "Please be careful, Gail. If you sense any danger, I want you to come right back here. And, if you're not back here in fifteen minutes, I'm coming to get you."

Gail frowned. "I'll be quick. But I don't think we want you showing up in Heaven, Cas. That could be enough to nullify the agreement. You know how his slimy deals work. I just don't want to take any chances."

"Well, I don't want to take any chances with you," Cas said softly. "Maybe you'd better go now, before I change my mind."

"OK, Cas," Gail said. She gave his hands a brief squeeze, then released them. And then she popped out.

She reappeared in the library a moment later, startling Chuck. She and Cas had agreed that she wouldn't give Chuck any prior notice that she was coming, just on the off chance that he was being held hostage, and a trap was being laid.

But Chuck was just sitting there at the front desk, staring at a sculpture of what appeared to be the Eiffel Tower, and it looked like he was alone. He looked up the instant she appeared, and a broad smile crept upon his face.

"Gail!" Chuck exclaimed, and he leapt off the stool and came towards her. She was looking around. "Are you alone, Chuck?" she asked cautiously.

"Yeah," he confirmed.

"Could you lock the door, please?" Gail asked him. While she highly doubted that would keep Lucifer out, at least no one else could come in that might inadvertently blab about her presence.

Chuck smiled. She wanted to be alone with him. He rushed over and locked the door, hanging out the Closed sign, and he drew the blinds for good measure. Then he came back to where she stood and opened his arms. "Can I get a hug?" he asked her.

Gail smiled back. "Of course you can, Chuck," she said. "I'm surprised you would even feel like you have to ask, by now." She walked into his arms, and he embraced her.

"Where's Cas?" Chuck asked her, holding her close.

She came out of the hug. "Maybe we'd better not mention him," she said quietly.

Chuck's heart leapt. So, she and Cas WERE having problems, and she had come to talk to Chuck about them! He knew that he was supposed to call Lucifer now, but he wanted to be alone with her for just a little while longer. She clearly needed him.

"I'm here for you, Gail," he told her softly. "I can be a shoulder for you to cry on. I can be a lot of things for you. Whatever you need. All you have to do is let me." His arms tightened around her, and he kissed her on the mouth.

Gail was so surprised that she did nothing for a moment. Her eyes widened. What the hell was this, now? Had everyone lost their minds?

She pushed him away. "What the hell, Chuck? What did Lucifer do to you?"

"Nothing," he said, pulling her to him again. "This has nothing to do with him, or with Cas. This is between you and me." He tried to kiss her again, but Gail averted her face from his, pushing on his chest. "Chuck! What's the matter with you? What's your problem?" she exclaimed.

"I'm not the one with the problem," he insisted. He was holding her way too close now, and she could feel that he was in an excited state. He had to be kidding with this. "It's Cas who's got the problem," Chuck went on. "He's been treating you like crap, and he deserves to die."

Gail's eyes narrowed. Where was he getting that from? Had he seen something in a vision that he was misinterpreting? Then it dawned on her; Cas had hit her, back at the white supremacists' clubhouse. "Did you see him smack me, Chuck?" she asked her friend.

"Yes, and when I see him next, he's a dead man," Chuck said angrily.

Gail couldn't help but smile. She had no idea how infected Chuck's mind was, of course; she just saw her friend, being concerned about her. So she was talking to him on that basis. "What, pistols at dawn?" she quipped. "You don't understand, Chuck. What you saw wasn't real. It was just an act we were putting on for the Nazis."

"Oh, yeah?" Chuck retorted. "Then what about the bruises and bite marks you're thinking of? What about those?" He grabbed her top, pulling at it. "I can make it all better, Gail. I can love you like you deserve."

That was it. She was done. Chuck had lost his damn mind. Had Lucifer infected the Angels with the Sins, or something? What Chuck was talking about now was obviously what had actually happened between her and Cas when Cas had been a Demon. Had Lucifer told Chuck about that, put him up to this somehow?

They would have to find out later. If she didn't take action in a minute, her Angel best friend was basically going to be molesting her. He was pawing at the zipper of her pants now. She tried to wink herself out, but nothing happened. She tried again. Nothing. Oh, crap.

"Stand down, Chuck," Lucifer said. He stepped out from behind one of the bookshelves, holding up his hand, which was red with blood. "You never did overcome that sigil thing, did you, Gail?" the Devil said, grinning. He pointed to the place on the wall where he had traced the symbol. He was dragging a body with the other hand, and he let it drop to the carpet now. "Thanks, Levi," he said to the corpse. Then he looked at Gail again. "What? You didn't think I would use my own blood, did you?" he asked her. "I just wanted to make sure that you would stay put long enough for our little chat." He approached the spot where she and Chuck stood. Chuck had finally let her go, and she was adjusting her clothing. Fortunately, he hadn't managed to rip her clothes, or expose any of her body. The last thing Lucifer needed was any encouragement in that department.

"It's funny, isn't it, how a simple little thing like a sigil can render you and your hubby absolutely impotent," Lucifer sneered. "Although in his case, it's clearly performance anxiety." He looked at Chuck. "Go sit down, Chuck. Fondle your sculpture for a while. You'll get your chance. But it's my turn now, and I'm the boss."

Chuck frowned, but he did as he was told. Lucifer looked at Gail. "Weren't you two supposed to go away?" he asked her.

"Your deal was with Cas, not with me," she replied, trying to keep her voice steady.

Lucifer stood in front of her now, looking down at her face. "Really? Does that mean that you've left him? I know Chuck is hoping that's the case."

"What did you do to Chuck?" she asked him.

"That's the beauty of it: Nothing," Lucifer replied with a sly smile. "Just like I'm not going to do anything to you. I won't have to. You're going to do it to yourself. All we need is for your dear husband to show up, and then the fun can begin."

Gail understood now. This was a trap for Cas. He expected her to call out for Cas. The instant she did, and he showed up here, the deal would be nullified. She couldn't let that happen.

"Sorry, but I'm not going to call him," she told Lucifer. "If you think you can trick me into bringing him here, you're mistaken."

"Am I?" he said lightly. "Gee, I didn't think God was ever mistaken about anything. Okay, maybe He did regret the dodo and the platypus, but I found them pretty hilarious, actually. But, me? I'm never wrong, Gail. You'll call Cas, and he'll come."

He extended his hand and touched her cheek with one finger, and she screamed in pain. Lucifer smiled. "Oh, yes. He'll come," he repeated.

Dean parked the Impala at the crossroads, and he and Frank got out.

"I've gotten spoiled, getting teleported everywhere," Frank said to his friend. "I'd almost forgotten what a sweet ride feels like."

Dean smiled wryly. "I don't get to drive her as often as I'd like these days. Too much Angel crap. Once we deep-six Lucifer, me and Sammy are going back on the road, for about a year."

Frank answered Dean's smile with a grim one of his own. "Too bad we can't deep-six this bastard, while we're at it," he said, nodding towards the spot where their meeting with Crowley was to take place. "Actually, now that I think about it, I guess we'd have to deep-six-six-six them."

Dean smirked, holding up his hand for Frank's high-five. "I feel the same way," he agreed. "But whether we like it or not, he's our only witness. He was with them when they met with Lucifer. We need to find out what happened at that meeting, so we can figure out what's up with those two."

Frank sighed. Dean was right, of course, but that didn't mean that he had to like it. Crowley was a little limey bastard, a snake in the grass who had been nothing but trouble to Frank since he'd had his parents killed, when Frank and Gail had still been kids. Frank hated the King of Hell's guts, yet every time he turned around, there the smug little troll was, smirking at him.

Dean clapped a hand on Frank's shoulder. "I know," he said. "I dream of the day we can finally kill him, too. We'll throw a big party afterwards, I promise. But we've gotta try to keep it together, here. He agreed to meet with us, but you know how he is. If we piss him off, we'll get nothing." He took out his phone and called Crowley. "We're here," he said tersely.

An instant later, Crowley appeared. "What can I do for you, gentlemen?" he said calmly. "You know I live to serve the side of Good."

Dean restrained himself from rolling his eyes, with a maximum effort. He and Frank hadn't even said anything yet, and already, Crowley was starting with the sarcasm. How Cas hadn't plugged this guy centuries ago was beyond Dean.

"Can you tell us what happened when you and Cas and Gail went to see Lucifer?" he asked Crowley, as politely as possible.

"Why don't you ask the Angels?" Crowley said innocently.

"Because we're asking you," Frank said through gritted teeth.

Crowley looked at Frank as if just realizing that Gail's brother was there. "Oh, hello, Frank," he said pleasantly. "How's your little family, then? Everybody healthy and happy? Your son getting good grades?"

Frank bristled. "Is that supposed to be some kind of a threat?"

Crowley feigned surprise. "Since when is inquiring as to the welfare of someone's wife and child a threat? You should really calm down, Frank. They're practically my relatives too, you know."

Frank's blood pressure started to rise. "Really? How do you figure that?"

"Castiel is my brother," Crowley answered smoothly. "He's married to your sister. That makes us..."

"That makes us nothing," Frank said bluntly. "But I'm gonna make you dead in about two seconds if you don't start giving us some answers."

Dean could have slapped his forehead with the palm of his hand. That was exactly the wrong way to talk to Crowley. "Take a knee, Frank," he said. Then he looked at Crowley. "He's not wrong, though," Dean said to the King. "Would you just get to the point, already? What did Lucifer do to them? Do you know where they went?"

"Lucifer didn't do anything to them," Crowley replied. "We drank, we talked, and the Angels left. They didn't tell me where they were going."

"You drank, and you talked," Dean said sarcastically. "OK. What did you talk about?"

"Oh, you know, the usual," Crowley said casually. "Politics, religion, baseball scores, what the Kardashians are up to...and then suddenly, Castiel lost his temper. Big shock, that. Said that he was fed up with Heaven, and with us, and with Angels. With everyone, in fact. He hurt my feelings, boys. Then he grabbed Gail's hand, and he winked them out of there. That's all I know."

"Just suddenly, out of the blue, he said all that," Frank said disbelievingly. "And I don't suppose you and your buddy Lucifer were doing anything wrong at the time?"

"Didn't you go up there to help them kick him out?" Dean interjected, trying to take the focus off of Frank's comments. He gave Gail's brother a look, trying to communicate non-verbally, like he did with Sam. Quit trying to provoke him, Dean said with his eyes.

"That was the plan, yes," Crowley said implacably. "But he's just too strong. There was nothing we could do. I guess Castiel realized the futility of it all, and decided to bail out. Perhaps he's taken Gail to Bora Bora. Or maybe to the Arctic Circle. We all know how averse she is to warmth." Now the King of Hell had a small smile on his face and a faraway expression, as if enjoying a joke that someone had told him earlier that he wasn't willing to share.

Now it was Dean who started losing his temper. "So why the hell did we drive all the way out here, if you had nothing to tell us?" he barked.

Crowley shrugged. "I merely told you that I was willing to tell you what I know. That's what I know. But you'll likely have bigger problems soon. Who knows what Lucifer will do, now that there is no Castiel to stop him? My Brother had left all of you holding the proverbial bag, it would seem. And all because he'd rather be off somewhere, having Gail hold his - "

"You son of a bitch!" Dean yelled, taking the Demon knife out of his jacket.

Crowley rolled his eyes. Then he snapped his fingers, and he was gone.

"Way to hold on to your temper, Dean," Frank said dryly.

Dean took a few deep breaths, then put away the knife. Frank smiled at his friend. Dean. You had to love the guy.

"Come on. Let's go home," Frank said.

"It's easy," Bobby was saying to Riley. "All you've gotta do is open up your mind and say Kevin's name. Identify yourself, and when he answers, you can start the conversation in your head."

But Riley was confused. He was new to being an Angel, and he'd never used Angel Radio before. "Open up my mind?" he repeated doubtfully.

"Yeah," Bobby confirmed. But young Riley still looked mystified, so Bobby searched for an analogy. "Try to wipe your mind clean, like...turning an Etch-A-Sketch upside down."

"Like turning a what?" Riley asked him.

Bobby let out a breath. "Like erasing a cassette tape," he said, trying again.

"What's a cassette tape?" Riley asked. He was thoroughly puzzled now. Were those even words?

Sam began to grin. He and Tommy were sitting at the other end of the library table, researching possible sites in Romania based on the bits of information that Linda had given them. Poor Bobby, Sam thought. Riley had been barely old enough to drink legally when he'd become an Angel. How the hell would he know what an Etch-A-Sketch or a cassette tape was?

Bobby saw the expression on Sam's face, and he glared at the younger Winchester. Sam immediately stopped smiling and looked down at his laptop. Bobby may not be God or even an Angel anymore, but Sam knew better than to make Bobby mad.

Bobby sighed and turned back to Riley. "Make your mind a blank. Can ya do that?" he said irascibly.

"Yes, Sir," Riley said meekly.

Bobby was about to correct the young Angel, telling him to call him Bobby, and then he decided to leave it be. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to have Riley a little bit afraid of him right now. Those other yahoos would be teaching him bad habits soon enough.

Riley did as he was instructed, calling out for Kevin. He nearly fell off his chair when Kevin answered, loud and clear.

"Hey, Riley," Kevin said eagerly. "We were all wondering where you were."

They were? Riley thought. Wow. He'd had no idea that anybody would have even noticed he was gone. He told Kevin he was in the bunker, and Kevin nearly tore his head off.

"That's fantastic!" Kevin yelled. "Is Bobby there, too? Is he all right?"

Riley winced. "Geez, Kevin, not so loud. You're giving me a headache. Yeah, Bobby's sitting right here, and he's fine. He wants to know if you can come down here."

Kevin hesitated. He'd love to go down to the bunker and be with his friends. But he didn't know if he should just bail like that. He was really worried about Ethan. When they'd gotten back to Heaven, Ethan had been beyond upset. It was his fault that Lucifer had gained access to Heaven, and they both knew it. Kevin understood how it had happened, and he had compassion for his friend. The Devil was very persuasive. Everybody knew that. He had preyed on Ethan's love for his wife and child, promising immortality for Ethan's loved ones in exchange for Ethan's promise to get down on his knees, and Ethan had fallen for it. Now, the can was open, and the worms were all over the place. Ethan was practically suicidal, and Kevin had been checking in with him practically every few minutes.

"Ask Bobby if it's all right if Ethan comes, too," Kevin said. "And shouldn't I bring Chuck, and Becky?"

Riley relayed this to Bobby, who sat back in his chair, frowning. Kevin would be bringing all the Angels down here, if Bobby let him. But then again, he'd been wanting to get the whole group back together again, and the four Angels that were still up in Heaven had been designates.

"All right. Tell him they can come. But, that's it," Bobby said. "If too many of them start disappearing, Lucifer'll get suspicious. I don't know if he knows how to close the door, but we want to make sure it stays open." He thought for a moment. "But do me one favour. Ask Kevin if somebody can look in on Patricia, make sure she's doing all right."

Riley relayed the message, and he and Kevin signed off.

"I guess we'll just wait," Bobby said, sitting back in his chair. He looked at Sam. "Hey, Sam, have you got a set of encyclopedias back there, or something? We need to expand Riley's education a little."

Riley's forehead wrinkled. "What are encyclopedias?" he asked.

Bobby threw up his hands and marched down the hall to get a drink.

The tears were flowing from Gail's eyes now, but she was determined not to break. Lucifer was inflicting such painful torture on her now that she was about two seconds away from begging him just to kill her, so she didn't have to feel anything anymore. She was lying on the library carpet in the fetal position, and her blood was draining out of her, soaking the rug. But, like his Brother Castiel, Lucifer knew just how far to go to inflict maximum pain while keeping his victims alive, and cognizant of what was happening to them.

Chuck had tried to intervene on her behalf, of course, and Lucifer had flung the Prophet across the room a few times for his troubles. Chuck had been so relentless in his attempts to defend Gail, in fact, that Lucifer had ended up simply immobilizing him. He'd also waved a finger and snapped Chuck's mouth shut, so he wouldn't have to hear his screams on top of Gail's.

And Gail was screaming plenty. The sound was music to the Devil's ears. Why hadn't he done this before? She liked to open her mouth so much, let shrieks be the only sounds issuing from her then, from now on. The only real shame was that Castiel wasn't here to see and hear them, and to see her bleed. But he knew she wouldn't hold out much longer. She couldn't.

"Kill me," she moaned, and Lucifer laughed. "I told you, honey, you're going to do that yourself," he taunted her.

A few minutes later, Gail was done. She thought about her family and friends, and her biggest regret was that she and Cas had left the bunker under such acrimony. "I love you all," she whimpered. "I'm so sorry I never got another chance to tell all of you that." She looked at Chuck. "Please, say goodbye to everyone for me," she said to him. "I don't know what's going on with you right now, Chuck, but please, don't forget how lousy it felt to be a bad guy. I don't want you to be unhappy like that, Chuck. And please, don't be mad at...my husband." She didn't even want to speak Cas's name, just in case. Although the fact that the sigil was painted on the wall in poor Levi's dying blood should prevent Cas from being able to enter the library, Gail was determined to stay strong. Her last act of defiance.

But Chuck was angry at Cas. It was Cas's fault that Lucifer was here in Heaven; Chuck was sure of it. And he was extremely mad at Lucifer now, too. He'd promised he wasn't going to hurt a hair on Gail's head, and here he was, nearly killing her. And there wasn't a damn thing Chuck could do about it.

Then Chuck realized that there WAS something he could do. He may be infected, but Chuck wasn't stupid. He knew that Gail was just trying to protect Cas by not mentioning his name. In the singlemindedness brought on by the spell, Chuck had completely forgotten about the sigil on the wall. He was thinking that Cas should be here, to witness what he had caused. Then at least Lucifer's attention would be pulled away from Gail, and then he could start in on Cas. If Lucifer were to kill Cas, clearing the way for Chuck, the Prophet would owe him one. He had been planning on killing Cas himself, but Chuck realized that would be much easier said than done. Why be stubborn about it? If Cas were to be gone, did it really matter how it happened? But once it did occur, Chuck could devote himself full time to wooing Gail. He had been too aggressive with her earlier; he realized that now. He and Gail had been closest when he was being loving and protective towards her. He had basically pawed at her like some kind of an animal. No wonder she'd been resistant to him. But Cas would have to be out of the picture first, of course. Gail was way too misguidedly loyal to him. She would never be willing to break her marriage vows, no matter how badly Cas treated her. Chuck had to take the decision out of her hands.

He opened up the frequency and shouted out for Cas to come.

Castiel was already trying to ascend; he'd been trying for the last ten minutes or so. He had nervously waited out the allotted fifteen minutes, but by the time they were over, he was out of his mind with worry. The fact that he hadn't received an SOS from her should have made him feel better, but it did not. The silence was unnerving. So he had opened up the main frequency, just as Gail had when she'd contacted Chuck, and like Gail, he was struck by the lack of chatter. Even if the communication was non-specific, there should have been a lot of panicked voices on there. This quiet was worse.

A few more minutes passed, and Cas was frantic now. He no longer cared about whether it was technically breaking the agreement for him to show up in Heaven. He only cared about the fact that the time period they had agreed on had passed, and then some, and Gail wasn't back, nor had he heard from her.

But it was strange; when he tried to ascend; Castiel couldn't do it. He was trying to get directly into the library, but he could not. Had Lucifer shut down Heaven somehow? But then, if he had, how could Gail have ascended?

As he sat there, thinking about what he could do, the call came through from Chuck. Please come, ASAP. Lucifer was torturing the crap out of Gail, and it didn't look too good for her.

Cas cursed in anger and fear. What the hell did Chuck think Cas had been trying to -

Cas appeared in the library, startling Chuck. Even though he'd called for him, Chuck had since remembered the sigil and so he hadn't called again, believing it would be a waste of time.

Gail was sure she must be seeing things. Maybe their Father was taking pity on her and was showing Castiel to her one last time, so her last image could be of him. She really hoped so. She blinked the blood and tears from her eyes so she could see him more clearly, and whispered, "I love you."

Cas was horrified to see her like that, and as he looked at Lucifer, he was beyond enraged. There was no reason for Lucifer to be doing this. None at all. Cas had capitulated and made the agreement, and he had left Lucifer alone. This was just evil now, in its purest form.

Cas extended his arms and a blinding blue light shot out of his fingertips, striking Lucifer in the chest. He staggered backwards, and Cas did it again. A hole appeared in Lucifer's shoulder, and then one opened up in his side. Castiel was turning him into Swiss cheese where he stood. This shouldn't be happening. How was Castiel doing this? He glanced over at the sigil on the wall. Levi was standing up beside it, and the look of triumph on the dying Angel's face was Lucifer's confirmation. Levi had struggled mightily to his feet and swiped his hand across the sigil, turning the symbol into a giant splotch of smeared blood on the wall that had no meaning.

"I messed up once," Levi said, gasping from the effort it had taken. He was remembering poor Felicia. "There won't be any Angels dying here today. Not as long as there is a breath left in my body," Levi said, looking defiantly at Lucifer.

"Well, we'll have to fix that, then, won't we?" Lucifer said angrily. He waved his hand in Levi's direction, and Levi began to choke. He clutched at his throat and slid to the floor.

Lucifer looked at Castiel. That act had taken a little something out of him, probably because he had those holes in him now, courtesy of a highly motivated Castiel. Lucifer had known that Castiel would be able to get into the library, of course. Since he had drawn the sigil himself, he'd made sure the trace the symbol that would render Castiel powerless, but would not restrict his entry, if he really wanted to get in. Because Lucifer knew something that Castiel and Gail didn't know, and it was a biggie: Castiel had the ability to transcend sigils. Lucifer hadn't been joking when he'd made that remark about performance anxiety. Castiel couldn't break through sigils because he believed he couldn't break through sigils. It was as simple as that. He'd been able to come into the library because Lucifer had wanted him to come, but even if Lucifer had drawn the correct symbol to keep Castiel out, if Cas truly wanted to, he could have broken through. It was kind of like clicking his heels three times and asserting that there was no place like home. If he wanted it badly enough, it could happen. But Castiel didn't know that. He should really spend more time studying his blade and less time studying Gail's body, Lucifer thought with equal parts scorn and amusement. It was all right there, along with the system of checks and balances that God had put in place. Each Original need only study his own blade, and he would find out a couple of the weaknesses of the others. God had put that information there on purpose. He'd created four Alpha males and given them various prodigious powers. Just in case any one of them got carried away with his powers, God had wanted either one or all of the others to be able to check him. Lucifer no longer had his blade, but he had studied it extensively before it had been stolen from him, and so he knew this fact about Castiel. Just as Castiel would know a thing or two about Lucifer's weaknesses, and Crowley's, and Metatron's, if he studied his own blade more. Whether Gail was in on this whole thing, Lucifer had no way of knowing. But as he'd always been able to handle her pretty easily, he hadn't really worried about her.

She was very close to death now. Gail had given up, and she had been preparing herself mentally and physically to die. Just one or two more salvos from Lucifer ought to do it. But Castiel was advancing on him now, putting his body between Lucifer's and Gail's. Cas's eyes flashed a brilliant blue now.

"I'm going to obliterate you, just like I did Raphael," Cas growled. "Then you won't need to worry about any Tablets, because you'll be blown to bits!" He shot the blue rays at Lucifer again, and another hole appeared, this time in the middle of Lucifer's left hand when he raised his hands in a defensive posture.

Now the Devil had three smoking craters on his body, and the pain was excruciating. He'd expended a lot of energy torturing Gail and holding Chuck back at the same time, and Castiel's attack was relentless now. Lucifer had been looking to provoke Cas into breaking their agreement, and he had definitely succeeded in doing that. But now it was time to beat a retreat, before the point was rendered moot.

Lucifer stepped forward, deciding to brazen it out. "If you take Gail and leave, right now, I will not kill her," he told Castiel. "But, now that you've shown up here and said the T-word, two things you promised not to do when we shook hands in my office, I'd stay away from me, if I were you. You broke our agreement, Cas, and your wife will soon be dead." Then he snapped his fingers and disappeared, going back to God's office. That expended the last of his energy and he plunked himself down in the chair, exhausted.

He waited to see what was going to happen next. Hopefully, Castiel would be so freaked out about Gail that he would whisk her out of Heaven immediately. If Cas was smart, though, he would come here and finish what he had started. And if he decided to do that, Lucifer might very well be done.

And Castiel did consider doing just that, for about a millisecond. But he looked down at Gail now, and he realized how badly she was hurting. She was his whole life. If Lucifer were to change his mind and pop back in here, all it would probably take was one or two more salvos from him, and she would be gone, lost to Cas forever. Cas couldn't chance a further one-on-one confrontation with Lucifer. He'd had the element of surprise in his favour when he'd first gotten here, and Cas's rage had given him the upper hand temporarily. But now his anger drained out of him, and it was replaced by fear and despair. He had broken the agreement. What on earth were they going to do now?

Chuck's paralysis had broken the instant that Lucifer had snapped himself out of the room, and he rushed towards Gail. But Cas was closer, and he fell to his knees at her side. He gathered her up in his arms, looking up at Chuck. "We'll be in touch," Cas told him, and then he winked her out of there.


	3. Suicide Is Painless

Chapter 3 - Suicide Is Painless

While Lucifer barricaded himself in God's office to recuperate, and Chuck stamped his foot in frustration and anger that Cas had gotten away, Castiel was healing Gail's wounds. It took a while, because she had so many. She was too weak for him to even consider asking her to clean the blood off of herself, so he dashed into the washroom and wet a cloth, then brought it and a towel back out to where he'd laid her down on the couch.

She was slowly trying to rise into a sitting position when he came back out, and Cas rushed to her side. "Please don't," he said, easing her back down.

Gail didn't argue. She was just so happy to be with him again. She'd thought that was going to be it for her. When Cas had arrived in the library, she'd thought that he was a figment of her imagination, a dying vision, maybe. Then she had seen the blue light coming from him and heard him speak, and then she'd realized that he was real, and that he was actually hurting Lucifer.

But then Lucifer had issued his threat, and then he had disappeared. Cas had scooped her up and brought her back here, and she'd been in too much pain to speak. Now, as Cas was gently washing the blood away from her face, Gail's mind was reeling. She hadn't called for Cas, but he had come anyway, and thank God he had. But she'd never seen anything coming from him like what she had just seen. He had caused some real harm to Lucifer this time.

Cas had cleaned the blood from her face, and he was looking at her clothing now. It was soaked with blood. He reached down to remove her top, and that was when he noticed that it was torn in a couple of places. His hands froze for a second, but he made no comment. Healing her was his top priority right now. So he pushed her top up instead and ran his hands over her torso, healing the slash marks there. Then he undid her pants and eased them down gingerly over her hips.

"I hope there's lots of healing to be done there," she quipped weakly, and Cas allowed himself a tight smile. She must be starting to feel better now. He put his hands on her wounds, and when they were fully healed, Cas said, "How do you feel?"

"Better," she told him. "I think I'll rest here for a minute, then take a shower."

"Just a moment," Cas said. He walked to the bedroom and took a pillow and the blanket off the bed. Then he came back out and covered her with the blanket, after removing her bloody clothing and throwing it on the floor. He put the pillow behind her head and tucked the blanket gently around her. "Rest for as long as you need to," he said softly, sitting on the couch by her side.

"I'm OK, Cas. I just need a minute," Gail said. "Back there, in the library, I thought..." Her eyes started to tear up.

"I know," he said, touching her cheek.

She sniffled back the tears. "You should have gone after him, Cas. You had him on the ropes. Maybe you could have finished him off."

He let out a breath. "Maybe. But I couldn't have left you there in that condition. What if he had come back and started to attack you again?"

Gail nodded wearily. She wasn't going to put too fine a point on it. Then Cas said quietly, "Why was your top torn? Did he try to interfere with you?"

She had almost forgotten about that. He was going to freak out. She told him about Chuck's strange behaviour. "Do you think Lucifer messed with him somehow?" Gail asked Cas, wrinkling her forehead.

Cas was astonished by what he was hearing. As if they didn't have enough problems at the moment. "I don't know, but I'm going to find out," he said firmly. It was unbelievable.

"I heard what Lucifer said about you having broken the agreement," she said quietly.

He sighed. "He set me up, Gail. He must have."

"That's what I think, too," Gail said. She worked one of her arms out from underneath the blanket and touched his face. "He told me he was going to make me call you. I told him he could forget it, and then he started torturing me."

"You never called me, though," Cas said, mystified.

"No, I didn't," she confirmed. "I knew what he was after, and he wasn't going to get it."

Cas was appalled. "So you just let him torture you, and you didn't call for my help? Oh, Gail." Now his eyes filled with tears, and he took her hand in both of his.

She shrugged, smiling wryly. "You know how stubborn I am."

Cas felt sick to his stomach. She was making light of it, but he had seen the extent of her injuries. He couldn't believe how brave she was. "You should have called me," he told her.

She made a face. "I guess I should have, in retrospect. But I was trying to keep the agreement in place. It's not just me, Cas. He said we would all die, and I would be the first, remember? But I wouldn't be the only one."

"Well, you're the most important one," Cas said lightly, but his mind was racing now.

"What is it, Cas? What are you thinking?" she wanted to know.

"His deals are always very specific in their wording," Cas replied thoughtfully. "If he said you were to be the first, then no one else can die, as long as you live. If we don't allow him to kill you, then no one else can be killed."

"I guess that's a good thing, then," Gail said slowly. "Believe me, I don't want him to kill me, either." But then she paused, and it was Cas's turn to ask her what she was thinking. "Lucifer said something strange," she told Cas. "He said he wasn't going to do anything to me. He said I was going to do it to myself."

Cas stared at her. What could Lucifer possibly have meant by that? That didn't make any sense.

"Cas, I really want to get clean, for a few reasons," Gail said, making another face. Tortured by Lucifer, pawed at by Chuck, she was feeling a little ill-used at the moment. But she also felt very tired, emotionally wrung out, and her body was sore. "I know it's unlike me, but I think I might want to take a bath," she continued. "I may even want to doze off afterwards."

"That's an excellent idea," Cas said. "We can talk some more after you've had a chance to recuperate." He stood up. "I'll run a bath for you. You can stay here and rest in the meantime."

"No, I'll come with," Gail said, starting to rise. "I want to get a clean nightshirt to wear."

His brow furrowed. "I can get that for you."

She got up from the couch, wrapping the blanket around her. "I know. I just..."

"What is it, Gail?" he asked her, puzzled.

Gail reached down and picked up the pillow. "I just want to be with you right now," she told him in a small voice. "I thought he was going to kill me, Cas. I thought I was never going to see you again."

His heart melted. He'd been so busy thinking about Lucifer's having set them up and Chuck's very odd behaviour that he hadn't stopped to think about how traumatized she must be feeling right now. "Come here," he said softly. He opened his arms, and she walked into them. "I'm so sorry you went through that," Cas told her quietly. "You must have been so afraid."

"I was," she confirmed. "I was so scared I was never going to see you again," she reiterated.

Cas hugged her tightly to him for a moment, and then he came out of the embrace to look at her face. "I will die before I would let anything happen to you," he said earnestly.

"For some reason, that doesn't make me feel much better," she said wryly. Then she kissed him on the cheek and added, "Come on, let's get me cleaned up. Then we can cuddle for a while. Maybe I'll nap for an hour or two, and then we can talk about...things. Okay?"

"OK, Gail," he said. He hugged her again and kissed the top of her head. "OK."

She followed him to the bathroom, and then she continued on to the bedroom as he started to run the water in the bathtub. He watched her go by as he sat on the edge of the tub. The blanket she held around her was trailing on the floor, and she was clutching the pillow to her chest as if for protection. She looked just like a child, trundling off to bed. All that was missing was a stuffed animal. He wondered if she would like it if he got her one for Christmas, or if she would think it was silly. Perhaps he would ask Frank about that.

But he couldn't think about Christmas right now. First, he had to figure out what they were going to do about the broken agreement. He supposed it no longer mattered now if they stayed away from home. In fact, the more people around them now, the better. Cas didn't intend to spend even one second away from Gail now, but the more protection she had around her, the better he would like it. She could have her bath, then he would cuddle with her for a while, and then, when she was sleeping, Cas would call Dean and apologize.

Gail rooted around in her suitcase until she found a clean nightshirt. She deposited the pillow back on the bed and walked to the bathroom with the blanket still around her.

Cas looked up. "Just in time," he said, standing up from the tub. "Here, let me help you." He took the blanket from her shoulders and dropped it on the floor, guiding her to the bathtub. She put a hand on his arm and lowered herself into the tub. Cas knelt beside her and grabbed the washcloth.

"What are you doing?" she asked him, and then it dawned on her, as he picked up the soap. "Oh, no, no, no," she protested shaking her head vigorously. "That's sweet, Cas, but I'm not an invalid, or a child. I can wash myself."

He nodded. He'd been getting carried away. "OK, Gail," he said. "I'll go and watch some TV in the bedroom, then." He rose, scooping the blanket off the floor.

"I love you, sweetie," Gail told him, and he looked back at her, smiling. "I'll be there in a few minutes."

Cas put the blanket back on the bed and grabbed the remote. He could watch a few minutes of the news, and then try to find something more lighthearted for Gail to look at when she emerged from her bath.

He saw nothing on the news broadcast to cause him undue alarm. There were bad things going on in the world, of course, but no more than the usual. Nothing to signify to Castiel that Lucifer had gotten his hands on any of the sacred items that could be used as weapons. Maybe Lucifer didn't know where those were, or how to get a hold of them. Cas himself had no idea. He just assumed they were in God's office somewhere. Either that or in an alcove room, as God's essence had been, before it was smashed. Did Bobby know, maybe? Cas made a mental note to ask him, once he and Gail returned to the bunker.

Failing that, Castiel supposed they would need to resume their quest for the Tablets immediately. He did not labour under the illusion that he would just be able to march into Heaven and finish Lucifer off now, not anymore. That window had closed, and Lucifer would have slammed the gate to Heaven shut and thrown all the protections up that he possibly could, just to keep Castiel out. That's what Cas would have done. Now that Cas had the benefit of hindsight, he realized that he probably should have pursued Lucifer, right then and there. Just the fact that the Devil had not been able to defend himself against Castiel's rage-fueled salvos should have signaled to him that Lucifer's batteries had been very low. But by now, Lucifer would have had time to recharge, and because he was an Alpha, he would be back up to full strength already. That had been a huge opportunity, and Castiel had not taken advantage of it. But if you presented him with the same situation a thousand times, he would have made the same decision a thousand times. He could no more have left Gail lying there in agony than he could have taken out his blade and cut off his own arm with it. The mere idea was unthinkable. And now that he knew about Chuck's mysterious and disturbing behaviour towards Gail, Cas was doubly glad that he had not left her there, alone and defenseless. Who knew what further indignities Chuck would have subjected her to? Now Cas began to worry that Lucifer might have done something to all of the Angels. But, what could that have been? Lucifer was very good at unhinging people one-on-one; of that fact, Castiel was all too aware. But he knew of no spell that would enable any being, even one as powerful as Lucifer, to cause mass insanity.

Suddenly, it occurred to Cas that Gail had been in there for quite a while. How long did a bath take? Maybe she had dozed off in there, as exhausted as she had been. Angels didn't generally do that, but it wouldn't be without precedent. He'd better check on her.

Gail had washed herself when she'd first sat down in the tub, and then she had leaned back and closed her eyes. The temperature of the water was just perfect, hot enough without being too hot. And there were fragrant bubbles all around her, too. She wasn't really a bath person as a rule, preferring the efficiency of a shower, but she had to admit this was kind of nice for a change.

Why did it not surprise her that Cas had not run the perfect bath for her? He did just about everything perfectly, in her admittedly very biased opinion. She loved him so much. Yes, he had made a mistake when he'd made the agreement with Lucifer, and likely another when he hadn't pursued him, when the Devil's defenses were down. But Cas's mistakes had been born of the best of intentions, and they came from a place of love and self-sacrifice. Gail knew that had not always been the case in the past, but she also knew that Cas had grown leaps and bounds as an individual, and she was very proud of him.

But now, she was starting to feel guilty. How many times was Cas going to have to save her? If Cas's mistakes had been well-intentioned, hers had just been stupid. What the hell had made her think that she could just waltz into Heaven unscathed, with Lucifer ruling the roost there? She had taken an unnecessary risk, and now everybody was going to pay the price. Poor Cas. She was nothing but a liability to him, in many ways. Gail tried to remember the last time she had been an asset to him or helped him in any way. He was always looking out for her, rescuing her. Dean had said as much to her in Paris, and he had been right. She was pretty much useless to Cas, and his loyalty to her was going to get them all killed.

A deep depression washed over her now. This couldn't continue. Maybe she should just go home and barricade herself in their house, and let the real Hunters take over. But she was sure that Cas wouldn't let her stay there all alone. He would be too worried about her safety. So she would traipse along, and then one or more of them would die, and it would be all her fault.

She opened her eyes and looked at the sink. There would be no help there. Cas had always ever used an electric shaver. Come to think of it, nobody that she knew used razor blades to shave anymore. Not Sam and Dean; not even Frank. Whether that had anything to do with the time that Cas had been at his worst, she wasn't sure. Probably. But thinking about that only depressed her more. She didn't like to think of those days. That guy had been a monster, using Cas as a vessel. At least, that was the way that she preferred to look at it. But in any event, Cas had improved himself so much since then that he was practically a Saint to her now, and he was to everyone else in Heaven, too. He'd told Riley he was nobody's hero, but Cas had been wrong. He was everyone's hero now. Especially Gail's. But she was a nothing, a nobody. Lucifer had been right when he'd called her an unwanted piece of gutter trash that her birth parents had apparently not even wanted. Crowley had called her a whore when she had been Guinevere, and even though he'd been a hypocrite, he hadn't been entirely wrong. She had broken her marriage vows then, and even though she and Cas were destined to be together, what she'd done had been morally wrong. Dean had called her a similar name back in the bunker, and even though Cas had jumped to her defense, she'd noticed that no one else in the bunker had said a word, because Dean had been right then, too.

As the spell cast by the broken agreement took hold, Gail began to cry. Everyone would be much happier if she were just...gone. Even Cas would be happier. Sure, he would mourn her for a while because he was so kind and soft-hearted, but he would get over her, she was sure of it. Maybe he could meet another, better woman, a better Angel than Gail was, who could be an appropriate match for him and help him, instead of dragging him down all the time.

She thought about that for a minute. Maybe there was a reason for her to be taking a bath, after all. Maybe God had been trying to tell her something all along. Apparently, He had been trying to kill her for years and years, and she was just too stubborn to take the hint. It had shocked Gail at first to find out that she and Cas and Crowley had engaged in their strange little dance before, but then she realized that on some level, she had always known that this wasn't their first go-round. But this thought only served to highlight the dark conclusion that she should have been dead centuries ago.

Her heart started to beat in double time as she looked down at the bath water. Did she have the nerve? Well, at least it should be painless. She let her body slide down until her head was submerged. Now, all she had to do was take a breath or two, and it would all be over.

Gail screwed up her nerve and made herself inhale deeply. The water went up her nose, making her sputter. But she forced herself to take another breath, and then another. It wasn't exactly painless, but it didn't really hurt, either. It was a strange sensation, really. As her body took in more water, it felt as if there was a weight on her chest that was getting heavier and heavier. But it was more pressure than pain.

And then, before it became painful again, Gail lost consciousness.

Cas tapped lightly on the door. "Are you still awake?" he said through the door, unmindful of the silliness of the question. If she wasn't awake, how would she be able to answer? "Maybe you want to come out, now. Your skin will be waterlogged," he continued lightly.

No response. He knocked again, but when she still didn't answer, he opened the door.

He didn't see her at first. Had she popped out somewhere? But, where? Her nightshirt was sitting on the toilet lid, still folded. She wouldn't have gone anywhere naked.

But as he stepped forward, Cas realized that Gail was in the tub. She was submerged under the water! Had she fallen asleep, then? He called her name, but she didn't move. He ran to the bathtub and scooped her out of the water, laying her on the mat beside the tub.

"Gail?" He touched her face. Her skin had a bluish-grey tinge to it, and her lips looked almost white. It didn't look like she was breathing at all. No. It couldn't be.

"Gail!" he shouted. He lowered his head to her chest. No heartbeat, nor did her chest rise and fall. Oh, God. My God.

He raced out of the bathroom back into the bedroom, looking around wildly. Where the hell had he put his cell phone? He had shut it off, and then put it...in his jacket pocket. He retrieved the phone now and pushed the speed dial button. Then he raced back to the bathroom as the phone rang on the other end.

"Hello?" It was Sam.

"Sam, it's Cas," he said, falling to his knees at Gail's side.

"Cas!" Sam exclaimed. "It's about time you - "

"I don't have time to talk right now, Sam," Cas interrupted him. "I found Gail in the bathtub, under water, and she's not breathing! What do I do, Sam?"

What? What was Cas talking about? "What do you mean, Cas?" Sam said, his forehead wrinkling. "She's an Angel, isn't she?"

"Sam, I told you, I don't have time to talk!" Cas shouted into the phone. "Are you going to help me, or not?"

"OK, Cas, OK. Calm down," Sam said. His mind raced. Cas said she was under water. Could Angels drown? Never mind. Focus. He explained to Cas how to do CPR, and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Cas dropped the phone on the mat and proceeded as Sam had instructed. But after breathing air into Gail's mouth and pumping her chest, she still wasn't responding. He picked the phone back up.

"It's not working, Sam!" Cas said, panicked. He was on the verge of tears now. "Please! It's not working!"

Sam was incredulous. This couldn't be happening. But the fear in Cas's voice was real. "Try it again, Cas!" Sam exclaimed. Now he was starting to panic, too.

Cas threw the phone down again, and again he performed CPR on Gail. She remained unresponsive. Cas was losing his mind. Then, suddenly, she coughed weakly. Cas's heart leapt. He snatched the phone up off the floor, telling Sam. Their friend advised Cas to gently roll her over onto her side. Cas did, and Gail sputtered, spitting up water onto the mat. But she was breathing again, and her colour was returning. Cas told this to Sam, and Sam was relieved.

"What's going on, Cas?" Sam asked him now. "Where are you? And why was Gail under water in a bathtub? What the hell's going on with you two? What kind of a stupid-ass deal did you make with Lucifer?"

Cas sighed. So, they knew. "We'll be home soon, Sam," he said. "Thank you for your help." Then he pushed End Call. Sam would probably be mad, but Gail was opening her eyes now.

"Cas?" she said in a small voice. Then she coughed again. "Cas, what happened?" Gail had no recollection of what she had done. The last she remembered, she was relaxing in the tub, and now she was lying here on the bathmat, trying to catch her breath.

He told her how he had found her. She sat up slowly, using him for support. Cas reached up and grabbed the towel from the rack, wrapping it around her. "Did you fall asleep, Gail?" he asked her.

"I guess I must have," she said dazedly. "But I don't know why I wouldn't have woken up as soon as I realized that I was under water. I've never slept that soundly in my life. Well, except for when you're next to me, of course," she added, smiling at him.

Cas's head was spinning. Now he felt as emotionally wrung out as she had been. How much more trauma could they take? "Are you all right now?" he asked her.

Gail took a breath, and then she took another. "I'm fine, Cas," she told him. "Thanks for saving me. Again."

"Let's go cuddle," he said to her, smiling gently so he wouldn't start to cry again. He helped her to her feet and grabbed the nightshirt, helping her to put it on. He left the towel and his cell phone on the floor. He'd worry about them later. Right now, he just had to hold her.

They walked hand in hand into the bedroom and he pulled down the sheet and blanket. Gail got in first and he followed, pulling the covers over them both.

Cas put his arms around her, but gently, as if cuddling a breakable object. Gail smiled. "I'm OK, Cas, really," she assured him. "I want to feel your arms around me."

He held her tighter. "I'm not letting you out of my sight, ever again," he told her.

Gail smiled. He was so sweet. The way she felt right now, that would be OK with her. She had no idea that she had been clinically dead for the minute that it had taken Cas to revive her. Since her essence was still in her body, she would have expired, had he not brought her back.

But she was alive now, and she loved her husband, so much. She lifted her head and kissed him on the chin, making him smile. He kissed her gently on the forehead.

"I think you can do better than that, don't you?" she teased him lightly.

Cas looked at her. "Are you sure?" he asked doubtfully.

"Of course I'm sure, Cas. I love you," she answered with a smile. "Let's make love once, or five times, and then we'll cuddle, and then we'll sleep for a bit. Then we'll have coffee in the morning, and then we'll go home. OK?"

He nodded. "OK." He put his hand under her chin and tilted her face up to look at him. "ARE you all right, Gail, really?"

She had absolutely no memory of the deep depression she'd been in which had prompted her suicide attempt. The torch had been passed; for the time being, anyway. Right now, all Gail was feeling was a sense of thankfulness to be alive, and to have such a loving spouse. "I'm good, Cas," she told him. "But I'm hoping to be wonderful in a few minutes," she added mischievously.

"You will be," he said, smiling. He kissed her deeply, using his tongue, and she responded happily. His hand went under her nightshirt and parted her legs, stroking her. She whimpered immediately. It had been such an emotionally intense day, filled with pain and fear. But now it was time for the two of them to express their love for each other, and that was, arguably, the most intense emotion of them all.

She moved against his hand. "Cas," she murmured. "That's so good."

"Yes, it is," he said, speeding up the motion of his hand. As soon as she began to cry out, he moved his body down and put his mouth in the spot where his fingers had been. His tongue darted out, teasing her, and when she shouted his name, he closed his mouth around her, savouring the taste of her.

When she was still, Cas rose, and entered her slowly. He was still being very gentle with her. But Gail was too excited now, and she pulled him down on top of her, wrapping her legs around him and urging him deeper inside of her. He buried his face in her neck and made a sound that was halfway between a whimper and a moan.

"I love you, Cas," she said into his ear. She gave him a tiny lick there, and he said her name. "What was that?" she asked him, smiling. "Are you trying to say that you love me?"

"I love you so much," Cas said, pushing forward. He groaned, and then he was still. He laid his head on her chest, listening to the comforting sound of her heartbeat. Her hands were on his head, and she was stroking his hair. Cas closed his eyes and smiled. "I could just lay here with you forever," he said softly.

Gail sighed contentedly. "So could I," she said. "But let's just sleep for a couple of hours, and then we'll go home."

Sounded good to Cas. He nodded, and a few minutes later, he was asleep.

"I'm telling you, that's what he said," Sam insisted. "I didn't believe it at first, but if you'd heard the panic in his voice..."

"How the hell can an Angel drown?" Dean said angrily. He didn't understand any of this. He and Frank and Bobby had been in the kitchen having a beer when Cas had called Sam. As soon as Cas had hung up, Sam had rushed down the hall to tell them about the very odd phone call.

Dean looked at Bobby. "Well?"

Bobby frowned. "Well, what?"

"How can an Angel drown?" Dean demanded.

"How the hell should I know?" Bobby said irascibly.

"You WERE one, up until recently," Dean pointed out, logically enough. "And, you were also God."

"That don't mean I know anything about that kind of stuff," Bobby said grumpily. "But Cas obviously does. It's a good thing you were able to help them, Sam."

"Did he at least say where they were, or what's going on with them?" Frank asked. His head was still reeling from the thought that his sister, the Angel, had required CPR to save her from drowning. That one was going to take a while to process.

"No, but he said they'd be coming home soon," Sam replied, opening the fridge and getting a beer for himself.

"Up top," Frank said, and Sam tossed him a beer. Bobby looked at them, bemused. It was funny how Frank fit in so seamlessly now. He was almost like another Winchester. Gail's brother had his quirks, to be sure, but he had a good heart, he treated Jody like gold, and he had been a great father to little Robbie. Cas had done a really good thing when he had brought Frank back into their family. And even though Bobby had mixed feelings about having been turned back into a human himself, he was glad to be here with Sam and Dean again. Not that he would ever tell them that, of course.

"Cas said they'd be coming home soon?" Jody asked, puzzled. She'd just come into the kitchen. She leaned down and gave Frank a loud, smacking kiss on the cheek. He was surprised; she usually wasn't that demonstrative. He smiled and reached for her, but she was reaching past him. "Yoink," she said, grabbing his beer and walking around to the other side of the table. The men laughed, and Sam tossed Frank another beer.

"Yeah, Jodes," Sam confirmed. "I don't know what's going on with those two, but I guess we'll be getting some answers when they get here."

Dean gave a short laugh. "Not necessarily. You know how Angels are, sometimes," he said.

Sam grinned. "I know, but there may be some hope for the younger generation yet. I don't think Riley's got an evasive bone in his whole body."

The humans all smiled at that. It was true; Riley was pretty much an open book. He wore his emotions out on his sleeve. Right now, he was in the library with the other Angels. He wanted to do anything he could to help, he'd told Bobby. Bobby wasn't sure if there was anything that Riley COULD do, but he was aware that the young Angel had been attending an institute of higher learning when he had been taken, so he must have a couple of brain cells floating around up there, Bobby thought. Bobby himself hadn't done too well in school, probably because he'd been too preoccupied with what had been going on between his parents at the time. But he'd always had common sense, and later, when he'd become a Hunter, he'd taught himself the lore. But if Riley had an academic background, Kevin might be able to use him, so Bobby had left him in Kevin's hands.

Sam had hung around for a while, offering to help, but eventually he'd given up and came to the kitchen. Kevin seemed a bit better around Sam now, and the young Prophet had assured Sam that he wouldn't hesitate to ask for help in the translations, if he needed it. But the vibe in the room had been thick and uncomfortable. Kevin had brought Becky, Chuck, and Ethan with him, and they all had their individual issues.

Becky and Kevin were speaking to each other now, but their conversation was stilted and formal. Becky's eyes kept wandering to Sam, and when Kevin noticed, he would frown, and then Becky would look away from Sam. But then, the cycle would start again.

Chuck was stewing in his own juices. Nobody here knew what had happened with Lucifer, Chuck, Gail and Cas in the library, and Chuck wasn't going to tell them. Kevin had called Chuck shortly after the incident and told his friend that Bobby wanted them all to come to the bunker immediately. Chuck's first instinct had been to refuse, but he realized that would seem suspicious. Besides, Gail could very well be there. Failing that, he would almost certainly be able to find out where she and Cas were. So he had dragged Levi's body behind the desk and hung the Closed sign on the door of the library. He was currently lost in a fantasy where he had just killed Cas and Gail had run to him, thanking him for delivering him from her captor.

But Chuck wasn't feeling too well physically, either. He kept glancing at the Pope's golden candlestick, which occupied a place of honour on the library table. Chuck wasn't evil enough yet to be denied admittance to the bunker, but the protective aura of the blessed item was giving him a low-grade nausea.

And Ethan was absolutely miserable. He wasn't talking to anyone, either. He couldn't believe that he was being allowed to sit here with all of them after what he'd done. He and Kevin and Becky were the only ones in their group who knew that it was Ethan who had capitulated to Lucifer. Kevin had argued that it made no difference how Lucifer had gotten in, only that he had. The main thing now was to get him the hell back out. Bobby seemed to think that the Tablets might hold the key, so Kevin was studying the Heaven Tablet now, thinking that was the logical place to look. Every once in a while, the young Prophet had looked up from the notes he was making to check on Ethan, but his friend just sat quietly at the table, his head down.

And Chuck was acting weird, too. Normally, he would be injecting himself into the proceedings, keeping everyone's spirits up. Maybe he was upset about Cas and Gail. Kevin could understand that. He'd been upset himself, when Bobby had briefed them all on the current situation. Cas and Gail had left the bunker, Bobby had advised, and no one was sure when they would be back. Riley had looked at Bobby sharply when he'd said that, but he'd kept his mouth shut. Bobby had made it sound like the cpuple had just gone on an errand, or something. Riley knew differently; he'd been here to hear Castiel say that he was giving up. But a lot of the subsequent talk around the bunker had had to do with the humans becoming increasingly convinced that Castiel had made some sort of a deal with Lucifer in order to spare all of their lives. Riley sure hoped that was the case. He'd been so heartbroken when Castiel had just bailed like that. If it turned out that Castiel had actually been trying to save them all, though, Riley was going to kneel down in front of him and beg his forgiveness for the harsh words he had spoken when Castiel and Gail had left here.

So while the Angels sat in the library, the humans continued to drink. Dean was burning with guilt now. He had basically chased Cas and Gail right out of here. He hadn't even given Cas a chance to explain where he'd been coming from. Dean knew Cas the best out of all of them, and he knew how Cas got sometimes. Dean could have given his best friend the benefit of the doubt, or at least tried to draw him out a bit. Instead, all Dean had done was to yell at the couple, and to put the icing on the crap cake, he'd called Gail a very derogatory name in the process. What in the hell was the matter with him? If anyone else had called her that in Dean's presence, Dean would have clocked them one. And now, it seemed like Cas had made one of his classic mistakes again, apparently striking up a deal with the Devil to protect them all, if Cas would just abandon the Tablet missions and leave. At least, Sammy was convinced that that was what had happened, and Dean believed him. That scenario was so totally Cas that Dean couldn't believe that they'd ever thought otherwise.

So Dean was the piece of crap who had chased the couple away. Then Sam gets a call from Cas, advising that Gail almost drowned. Had Lucifer popped in there where she was and attacked her, or something? If anything happened to Gail, it would be all Dean's fault. She would have been protected if she'd been here in the bunker.

"I've gotta take a leak," Dean said abruptly, rising from the table. He walked down the hallway, but instead of continuing on to the bathroom, he found himself going into the weapons room. He walked over to the table and looked down. So many weapons. Guns made noise, but they were the quickest, and most efficient. Oh, well. By the time they heard the gun go off, the deed would be done.

Dean picked up one of the guns and put it to his temple. What the hell was he doing? He had no idea, really. He just knew that he was done with life. Done with it all. He flipped the safety off, and his finger caressed the trigger of the gun. How would it feel? He had shot both humans and monsters, but Dean had no idea what it would feel like to receive a shot in the head. Would it hurt? Would he die instantly?

Sam had risen from the table shortly after Dean had, and he'd decided to go back out to the library. He was feeling edgy now, for some reason. Things were just too weird right now. He had what Ethan would have called that hinky feeling.

Sam walked down the hallway. As he passed the weapons room, he saw Dean standing there, with the gun to his head. What the hell? What was his brother doing?

"Dean?" Sam said, puzzled. "Ummm...what are you doing?"

Dean pulled the trigger, but the gun did not discharge. Nor would it have; they didn't keep the guns that were sitting on the table loaded. The ammunition was locked up in the cabinet. Robbie was old enough to know better, and Frank had instilled a healthy respect for weapons in the boy, but they still took no chances. And Dean had known that, of course, yet the strange impulse had made him pick up the gun anyway.

Now Dean looked at Sam, putting the gun back on the table. "What do you mean?" he asked his brother. "I'm just looking at the weapons."

Sam gaped at him. "Dean, you were holding a gun to your head."

Dean made a face. "How much beer have you had, Sammy? Hey, speaking of which, I gotta go take a leak." He pushed past his brother, who stood there, open-mouthed.

Sam continued on to the library, puzzling on the way. Had everybody lost their minds all of a sudden? Maybe Lucifer had put something in the water. Sam knew all too well what an expert he was at messing with people's minds, but this was ridiculous.

"How's it going, Kevin?" Sam asked the young Angel.

"Funny you should ask," Kevin said. "I was just about to come and get you. I think I might have something here."

Sam walked over to the table and looked over Kevin's shoulder. "See this, here?" Kevin said to him. "I'm pretty sure it says something about 'evil' and 'an office', or 'the office'."

Sam's brow furrowed. "I think that's 'the High Office'. God's office! And yeah, that's definitely 'evil'. What else have you got?"

Kevin sat back in his chair, letting out a breath. "That's it, so far. This is the most complicated Enochian I've ever seen, Sam. It's way more complex than the other Tablets were. I'm in over my head here."

Sam sat down across from Kevin. "Do you mind if I have a look?"

"Be my guest," Kevin said, pushing the Tablet over to Sam's side. "I'm getting a bit of a headache, anyway."

Sam studied the passage Kevin had pointed out. He saw what the Prophet had been talking about. This was advanced stuff, even more advanced than the language on the Angel blades. One word stood out to him, though. "'Scribe'," Sam said out loud.

"What?" Kevin said.

Sam pointed to the word. "This says 'Scribe'. I've seen that word before. I bet it's got something to do with Metatron, then. He transcribed the other Tablets; I wonder if he did these ones, too." Then he frowned. "But nobody knows where he is."

"I do," Chuck piped up.

Cas woke up when Gail stirred. They had been napping together for a couple of hours now. His head was still on her chest, and her arms were around him. She had obviously fallen asleep too, but when she woke, she felt strange. A moment prior, Dean had set the gun back down on the table at the bunker. So, now that he'd made his own suicide attempt, the metaphorical torch had been passed back to her. So the instant she woke up, Gail felt an overwhelming urge to kill herself. She had to get out of this bed, and then she had to find a way to end her life.

Gail moved, and Cas lifted his head from her immediately. "I'm sorry," he said to her. "I guess I fell asleep. I just felt so warm and comfortable." Cas gave her a gentle kiss and then he smiled, trying to be charming. He hoped she hadn't been too uncomfortable.

"I have to get up, Cas," Gail told him, and his heart sank. She HAD been uncomfortable; she just hadn't wanted to disturb him. He rolled off of her. "I'm sorry," he said again. "Is there anything - "

He'd been about to ask her if there was anything he could do to make it up to her, but she was already scrambling off the bed. His forehead wrinkled. Was she angry? She was looking around on the floor, presumably for her nightshirt.

"What are you doing?" he asked her.

"I don't know," Gail replied. She had found her nightshirt and was pulling it on over her head.

Cas sat up. Now he was really confused. "What do you mean, you don't know?" he asked her.

Gail turned around and left the room, without another word. She couldn't stand it anymore. She couldn't stand to be alive one more minute.

Cas jumped out of the bed and grabbed his pants from the floor. He was starting to get a funny feeling now. She was behaving very strangely.

He had just done up his pants when he heard the terrace door slide open. No! He thought about his nightmare. Was he having another one now?

Cas rushed out of the bedroom, through the living room area. Gail was out on the terrace. It was just like his dream. She dragged a chair to the railing and stood on it. Cas ran forward. "Gail!" he shouted. "No! What are you doing?"

She turned around on the chair to look at him. "I have to do it, Cas."

"No! Please!" He was out on the terrace now, reaching his arms out to her. "Please, Gail. Come here. Please, come down from there, and we'll talk," he pleaded.

"I can't," she said dazedly. A gust of wind blew by, and she tottered on the chair. "I'm sorry, Cas. I have to go." Then she turned around and jumped.

He ran forward, lunging for her, and missed. Without any hesitation, Cas jumped, too. He could see her just ahead of him, plummeting to the ground. Cas prayed harder than he had ever prayed before. Please, Father. She doesn't deserve to die like this. Please. Please.

Suddenly, Castiel could feel his wings emerge from his back. He hadn't stopped to put a shirt on, so they spread out now, unencumbered. He flew down to Gail and folded his arms around her, holding her tightly.

They landed gently on the ground, and he looked around quickly, but there was no one there to see. Their room was in the back of the hotel, and dusk was starting to fall. He put his wings away and turned her around to face him.

"What are we doing out here, Cas?" she asked him. It was a chilly evening and she was dressed only in her nighshirt, so she was shivering now. She was confused. The last she remembered, they'd been cozy and warm in bed. Was she having a dream? If so, it was pretty realistic. She shivered again.

Now Cas wished he was wearing a shirt, so he could put it on her. But he was utterly mystified now. Had she been sleepwalking? He'd heard of that before. But he didn't buy it, in her case. They'd been together for several years now, and even though she seldom slept, she had never shown any signs of sleepwalking in the brief instances that she had fallen asleep. And she had been speaking to him as if she were wide awake. No, what was going on with her was much more sinister than that.

Cas took Gail's hands in his and he quickly winked them back to their room. He led her by the hand to the bedroom. He wanted to get his jacket to put on her until she was warm again, but he wasn't going to leave her alone for even one second to go and get it. He thought he had figured it out now.

"What just happened, Cas?" she said, bewildered.

"Let me warm you up a bit, and then we'll talk," he said, taking his blazer from the chair and putting her arms in the sleeves. Gail hugged the jacket to her as Cas picked his shirt up off the floor and put it on.

Gail smelled the jacket. It was big on her, of course, but it was warm, and it smelled like him. She smiled, wrapping it tighter around her. But now she could feel something pressing uncomfortably against her side. What was it? She reached into the inside pocket. Oh. His blade. She took it out, intending to lay it on the desk. Once she'd warmed up a bit, she would take off the jacket and replace the blade.

He saw her with the blade in her hand. He yelled, "No!" and rushed forward, snatching it away from her.

Gail was puzzled. "What?" What's the matter, Cas?" she asked him. "I was just going to put it right there, on the desk."

He sighed with relief. But still, he wasn't taking any chances. He collapsed it and put it in his pants pocket. "Let's go into the living room and talk," he said to her. "I'll call room service and order some coffee to warm us up, if you'd like."

A short while later, they were having their coffee, and Gail was looking at Cas, bemused. The room service people had sent up complimentary slices of cake. When Cas had checked them in, he had told the desk clerk it was their honeymoon, and she had thought that the couple was so sweet-looking and affectionate that she had arranged to send them the cake, with a brief note of congratulations. Cas smiled. That had been very kind of her. But he noticed that the service came with a full set of utensils. There was even a sharper knife on the tray, for some reason. So he had bundled up the forks and knives in a cloth napkin, looking briefly at Gail. He couldn't afford to take any chances, not if what he suspected now was true. He put them outside in the hall on the floor, and locked the door, for good measure.

Then he had sat down and prepared her coffee, just as he always did, and then he did his own. He looked at the spoon he'd used to stir the coffee with, then put it in his pocket, just on general principles.

Gail had been watching all of this with an uneasy smile on her face, as if trying to decide what she thought about that. "What are you doing, Cas?" she asked him.

He sighed. "I suppose I should have figured it out before now, when you told me what Lucifer said to you." He took both of her hands in his. "He means for you to commit suicide, and he has nearly succeeded, twice."

"What?!" she exclaimed. But then she thought about what Cas was saying. Lucifer had been smug, telling her that she was going to do it to herself. And as soon as Cas had broken the agreement, she had suddenly found herself being pulled out of a bathtub full of water, and then mysteriously outside, many floors just below their hotel room.

"Have I been trying to kill myself, Cas?" she asked him, astonished.

"I'm afraid that seems to be the case," he said, nodding his head slowly.

She touched his face. "Oh, sweetie. I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault," Cas said, frowning. "It's mine. I never should have made that agreement. I should have known it was going to go sour. They always do. I was just trying to protect everyone, Gail. You, most of all."

"Well, it's probably just as well," she said. "We shouldn't be apart from our family and friends, anyway. We're stronger when we're together. I'm sure Lucifer knows that, too. He's always trying to pry us apart. We only have two more Tablets to get, and I think he's running scared."

Cas nodded once more. She was right. "I believe we need to get that card printed up," he told her with a faint smile. She looked at him quizzically. "You know; the one that says you're right all the time, and we should just do as you say." He looked at her, waiting for her reaction.

She rewarded him with a laugh. "There you go," she said.

Cas looked at the pieces of cake. "I don't have much of an appetite, but on the other hand, it's a shame for such a kind gesture to go to waste."

"I'll have a bite or two," Gail said, and then she gave him a wry smile. "I guess you'll have to feed it to me."

Cas's forehead wrinkled. Only Gail or her brother could find any humour in this type of situation. She reached out and touched his forehead, as if to smooth out the worry lines. Poor Cas. In the four or so years she'd known him, it seemed to her that those lines etched deeper into his face with every month that passed.

"I've decided to try to find it funny," she told him. "You know, black humour, and all that. But when we get back home, there'll be so many people around that I'm sure you won't have to worry. I don't see how I could try to harm myself with all of our loved ones there, keeping an eye on me."

Cas exhaled. He supposed that was true. He didn't plan on leaving her side, but it would be good to have all of that support, as well. Once they were all speaking to him again, of course.

"Now, can I have a bite of cake?" she asked Cas. He reached into his pocket for the spoon, and then his lips twitched. He picked one of the pieces of cake up with his hand and brought it to her mouth. Gail smiled, then took a bite. Somehow, she ended up getting a dab of frosting on her nose. Cas laughed. He put the rest of the piece of cake back on the plate and wiped his hand with a napkin.

"You are the cutest person I have ever seen," he told her. He reached out and wiped the bit of frosting from her nose with his thumb, and impulsively, she licked it from him.

"I remember that, now," Gail told him. "That was one of the sexiest moments of any of my lives."

"Mine, too," Cas said softly. "And it still is, now. I may have to feed you by hand from now on." He leaned forward and kissed her, using his tongue. The frosting was sweet, though not as sweet as she was. He told her that now, and she laughed softly. "You flatter me, Sir Lancelot," Gail said flirtatiously.

Castiel smiled. "It doesn't matter what our names are, or what age we're living in. I love you with all of my heart and soul, and that will never change. Please remember that. We will find a way to break this spell, and we will defeat Lucifer. And then, we'll have a real honeymoon. You have my word."

Gail smiled back at him. That was the Castiel that she knew and loved. "Let's go home," she said.


	4. And I Can Take Or Leave It If I Please

Chapter 4 - And I Can Take Or Leave It If I Please

Sam and the Angels were all sitting around the library table when Cas and Gail suddenly appeared. Sam was startled out of his reverie. He'd been studying the Tablet for about an hour now, and he was no further ahead than when he'd started.

He jumped to his feet when Gail approached the table. She opened her arms to hug Sam, but all of a sudden, Chuck shoved the younger Winchester aside, opening his own arms to embrace her. Gail let him hug her, but she didn't hug Chuck back. The memory of his behaviour in the library was still too fresh.

"Thank God, he brought you back," Chuck said, squeezing her tightly. "I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you from him."

Gail relented. She knew he would have felt terrible about not being able to help her when Lucifer was torturing her. "That's OK, Chuck," Gail said, hugging him back now. "There was nothing you could have done."

Sam rolled his eyes. He had no idea what those two were talking about, but he was annoyed that Chuck had shoved him out of the way. He'd been just as worried about Gail and Cas as anyone, maybe more so. After all, he was the one who helped Cas revive her. "Hey, Chuck, let her breathe," he joked. "I was there first, man." He poked Chuck on the shoulder.

Chuck ignored Sam, squeezing Gail tighter. She was starting to feel uncomfortable now. "Chuck, you're suffocating me," Gail told him, her voice muffled by his chest.

Cas stepped forward. He had not forgotten what Gail had told him about the odd way that Chuck had behaved towards her in the library, before Lucifer had shown up. "Let go of her, Chuck," Cas told him.

Chuck did, but he turned to Cas now, and his eyes were blazing. "This is all your fault," he said to Cas. "Everything that has happened to her is your fault."

Cas frowned. While he did agree with Chuck to a certain extent, he thought that their friend was acting very strangely now.

"What's all the yelling about?" Bobby said. They had all come down the hallway from the kitchen when they'd heard Chuck shouting.

"If I had a blade, I'd kill you," Chuck snarled at Cas. They all looked incredulously at him.

"Hey, I was pissed off at him too, but I think you might be getting a little carried away," Bobby said. "Sit down, Chuck. Cool your jets."

Chuck returned to his seat, still glaring at Cas. He wouldn't be able to touch Cas here anyway, not with all the protections here, and with his buddies backing him up. Oh, well. His opportunity would come; he would just have to be ready when it did.

"So, the Prodigal Angel returns," Frank said with dry humour. "That was the shortest honeymoon on record."

"I need to apologize to all of you," Cas said.

"No, he doesn't," Gail said quickly. She took his hand. "No, you don't," she told him firmly. "You made that deal with the best of intentions."

"What is it they say about the road to Hell and good intentions?" Sam said dryly.

Gail gave him a baleful look, but Cas gave her hand a brief squeeze. "You're right, Sam, and that's why I need to apologize to everyone," Cas said, looking around the room. "My intention was to keep you all safe. But I screwed up. I am truly sorry."

Riley stood up slowly from his chair. "So what they said was true?" he asked Cas. "You really made a deal with Lucifer, himself, to try to keep us all alive?"

"Yes, Riley," Castiel confirmed. "I'm sorry that I disappointed you."

But Riley was ecstatic now. Castiel really was the hero that Riley had believed him to be! He fell to his knees. "Praise be to you, Castiel," Riley said, bowing his head. "You are our Saviour."

Dean rolled his eyes, smirking. Riley had to be kidding with this. "Don't give him any ideas, Riley," he said to the young Angel.

As an embarrassed Cas asked Riley to rise, Dean approached the couple. "Why didn't you just tell us, Cas?" Dean asked his friend. "We would have told you it was a stupid idea, but at least we would have known you weren't being a dick."

"One of the terms of the agreement was that I couldn't tell you why I was leaving," Cas told him.

Sam and Bobby exchanged glances. Yeah, that sounded like Lucifer, all right. The Devil would have known that Cas's friends would jump to the conclusion that he had just turned his back on them. It would be just like Lucifer to want to drive a wedge between them. Satan may be sitting in God's office, but they were pretty sure he was running scared now.

Dean looked at Gail. "Do you want to punch me in the face?" he asked her, sticking his cheek out. "Come on, free shot," he added, gesturing.

"You've gotta take the shot, Gail," Frank told her. "That's a once-in-a-lifetime offer."

"Can it be transferable?" Sam said, breaking into a grin.

"The offer was made to me," Gail told them. "And I believe I'll take you up on it. Close your eyes, Dean."

Really? She was really gonna do it? Well, he'd made the offer. And he guessed it was no less than he deserved, after he'd gone after her like that. He closed his eyes, screwing up his face.

Gail leaned forward and gave him a big, smacking kiss on the cheek. "There," she said.

"You disappoint me, young Grasshopper," Frank quipped. "Never pass up an invitation to punch a friend in the face, Gail. Never."

"Aah, that hurts my hand too much," she said to him. "I'll leave that to you macho types."

Dean opened his arms. "Will you at least let me tell you I'm sorry, then?" he asked her. "I was a real piece of crap, Gail. Feel free to call me every name in the book."

"I'll take an IOU for that one," she said, smiling. "I'm pretty sure the opportunity to cash in that chit will arise very soon."

She and Dean hugged, and then Bobby said, "OK, everybody. Brainstorming session."

Everyone gathered around the library table. Cas pulled Gail's usual chair out for her, while Riley scrambled for the chair on the other side of Cas. He sat there looking at Cas with such admiration that Frank had to look away so he didn't burst out laughing.

Sam and Jody filled Cas and Gail in on their visit to Quinn's to see Linda, and Cas frowned. So Luke was nervous now that Lucifer had ascended, was he? Interesting. Cas didn't think the Gospel writer had anything to worry about, though. Lucifer had many powers, but he wasn't God or Death, so he had no access to the Netherworld. Linda was doing a wonderful service for them and for Heaven by persisting in her attempts to worm information out of Luke.

"Sam and I have the possible location of the Tablet narrowed down to two sites," Tommy told them. "I've done my usual research job on Romania, so when everyone's ready to go, I'll give you a quick briefing."

"We're going to Dracula's castle," Frank said, almost happily. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"I told you, Frank, Vlad Tepes has nothing to do with Dracula," Sam said patiently.

Jody rolled her eyes. "Never mind, Sam. Frank wants it to be Dracula's castle, so therefore, it's Dracula's castle. For a Hunter, you would think he'd be able to distinguish between fantasy and reality."

"Movie vampires are so much cooler, Jodes," Frank argued. "They're ugly and disgusting in real life, but in movies, they're suave and sophisticated."

"That has nothing to do with anything," his wife insisted. "Movies are movies. Even Robbie knows the difference."

Sam and Dean exchanged glances, smirking. Jody was right, of course, but now Frank was looking like somebody was talking about cancelling Christmas. "I know what you mean, Frank," Sam said, and Dean added, "I vant to suck your blood. Blah, blah."

"I have never said that before in my life," Frank said indignantly, and then he and Dean laughed.

"Sorry, everybody," Jody said to the room in general. "They watched Hotel Transylvania with Robbie last night."

Most of them smiled, but Cas did not. "Can we get back on topic, please?" he said impatiently.

"OK, I'll give you a topic," Frank said sharply. He'd had his laugh, but there was something very specific he wanted to know, and Cas hadn't even said one word about it. "How does an Angel drown in a bathtub, Cas? And why didn't you say anything about THAT, while you were making your apologies?"

The room went silent, and Cas winced. He'd been working up to that; he just hadn't been sure exactly how he was going to put it. How could he tell Gail's loved ones that he had made a deal with Lucifer that had backfired on them so badly that Gail had already tried to commit suicide twice, and that she would keep on trying to do it until they'd found a way to break the spell?

"Don't be too hard on him, Frank," Gail said. "It's a weird situation. Basically, now that the deal is off, I'm apparently going to try to kill myself, and keep on trying until I succeed, or we break the spell. Isn't the Devil a riot?"

Frank gaped at her. "You've got to be kidding with this."

"I wish I was," she responded. "Cas pulled me out of the tub and revived me, and then I took a dive off of our hotel terrace. It's lucky Cas has wings, or I'd be an impressionist painting on the pavement right now."

They were all shocked into silence again. "I know, right?" Gail continued. "And the kicker is, I had absolutely no memory of doing those things. It was like I was in a trance, or something."

That got Sam's attention. "So when Cas saved you, you didn't remember anything about what you had done?" he asked her.

"That's right," she confirmed.

Sam looked at Dean. "That's what you did, earlier," he said to his brother. Sam looked around the room, telling them about Dean's having held the gun to his own head in the weapons room.

"Are you saying I tried to off myself, and I don't even remember?" Dean said, astonished.

"Welcome to the club," Gail said wryly. "Tell you what; let's not have a membership drive."

But Cas was puzzled. He went over the exact wording of Lucifer's deal in his head. "Lucifer said that you would all die, but that Gail would be the first," Cas mused aloud. "Therefore, we were under the impression that if we keep Gail alive, which we will do, of course, that no one else would be at risk."

Sam was thoughtful. "Didn't you say that Gail wasn't breathing when you pulled her out of the tub?"

"That's right, Sam. And her heart wasn't beating, either. Thankfully, with your help, I was able to bring her back," Cas said soberly.

"Well, then, there's your answer. You had to resuscitate her," Sam pointed out. "Since she was clinically dead, the spell then moved on to the next person."

"I guess I'm his favourite," Dean said proudly. "Suck it, Sam."

Gail laughed shortly. "Believe me, this is something you guys don't want to fight over," she told them. "I guess everybody's going to have to watch me carefully for the foreseeable future. And for that, I apologize in advance."

"I won't be leaving her side," Cas told everyone, "but if you could all be vigilant too, I would appreciate it."

"So, let me get this straight: You have to be dead in order for me to kill myself? " Dean said to her. His lips were twitching. He couldn't help it.

"Don't get any ideas there, big boy," she quipped.

"Hey, are you kidding me?" Dean retorted. "It's in my best interests to keep you alive, then. Maybe we'll get Sammy to draw you up a fitness program."

Cas was starting to get annoyed. "Can everyone please just stop joking about this?" he said testily. "It's very frightening to see your poor wife without breath, or a heartbeat. And I don't think it was even the slightest bit amusing to see her falling from a terrace fourty storeys above the ground!"

"You're right, Cas," Frank said suddenly. "It's not too friggin' funny at all." Now he was sorry he'd been sharp with Cas. He could only imagine how terrifying that had been for his brother-in-law. Frank tried to picture how he would feel if it had been Jody who Frank had to have saved twice like that in such a short period of time. Even one incident like that would have killed Frank, let alone two. Cas must have a really strong constitution. But, speaking of which, there was something else that Frank needed to know. "How does that work, Cas?" he asked Gail's husband now.

"How does what work, Frank?" Cas asked wearily.

"How CAN an Angel drown?" Frank said. "I don't mean to be blunt but aren't you guys already...aren't you...You know what I mean," Frank stammered awkwardly.

"Dead?" Castiel said sharply. He was staring at Frank with flat eyes. He didn't really blame Frank for his curiosity, but it was always the same with humans. Their scope of understanding was very limited, and they mainly thought in terms of black and white. "Yes, Frank, but there are many different levels of existence, and many planes of being," Cas said. "I know it's hard for you to comprehend, but basically, Angels have a system of hierarchy. The lower Angels are very much like pawns on a chessboard. They are eminently expendable, so when they are killed with an Angel blade, or they lose their Grace, they simply cease to exist. Angels such as Ethan, or Riley, or Becky would fall into this category, under normal circumstances. But once they are designated for special service, such as the ones we have here, they can have another plane of existence, such as Linda's, in the Netherworld. Then there are the Prophets, like Kevin and Chuck. It used to be that there could be only One True Prophet in existence at a time. That was Chuck, initially, but when he was cast down, Kevin took his place. Once Chuck achieved redemption, our Father obviously blessed him with the return of his gift. But now, it is unclear what would happen if one of them were to die, as the situation is without precedent. The same goes for you, Bobby. Now that you are a human again, as Frank is, you are both mortal now. Because you were once God, Bobby, you could very well end up going to the Netherworld. On the other hand, it is hard to say whether Frank will go to Heaven or to Hell when he dies. He may even have to spend some time in Purgatory."

Jody gasped. She hadn't thought of that, but what Cas was saying could very well be true. They'd never really talked about it, but Frank had once been a Knight of Hell. He was a good guy now, of course, but would there be future consequences for the things he had done in the past?

"Then there are the Exalted," Cas continued. "The Upper Echelon board, which were the longer-serving Angels, was disbanded, and the Archangels are all gone now. That leaves the Originals: Lucifer, myself, Crowley, and Metatron. And now, Gail. We are the Angels On High, and we are set above all." He smiled grimly, seeing their incredulous expressions. "Yes, that's right. Lucifer, Crowley and Metatron are Original Angels On High. I know it's hard to believe. But because we are the highest up on the food chain, as I believe the expression goes, we also have the most to lose. We can occupy another being with our essence for a short time or take in the essence of another otherworldly being as a Host, but if our vessels were to expire with our essence still in them, we would expire, too. So to answer your question, Frank, if Gail were to die with her essence still inside of her vessel, then yes, she would truly die. So you'll pardon me if I don't find much humour in the situation."

They all thought about the implications of what Cas was saying. The young Angels weren't particularly surprised by their status. So far as they knew, rank had its privileges in Heaven, just like on Earth. The longer they served, the more seniority they would accumulate, as in a union job. Hey, you had to pay your dues, just like everywhere else, Riley thought. But it seemed like the Angels who were gathered here now, as well as Kevin's mom, who had tragically died in the line of duty, had a higher ranking because they had been Chosen. "How do I apply for a promotion?" Riley asked out loud, and most of the Angels smiled, breaking the tension in the room.

Kevin was more or less indifferent to what Cas was saying. As far as he was concerned, Chuck could be the one and only Prophet. Maybe the Prophets were higher up in the scheme of things, but they paid a high price for it, too. Kevin really didn't like people looking to him to predict what was going to happen, and he had been tortured and put through anguish because of his "gift". Kevin much preferred academic pursuits such as the study of the Enochian language, and he had enjoyed sitting on Heaven's board, too.

Chuck was doing the slow burn. Oh, yes. Castiel the Exalted. Why didn't they just canonize him now and get it over with? But just look at the company he was in. Lucifer? Crowley? Metatron? And they'd called Chuck evil. And now poor Gail was lumped in with all of those bastards, through no fault of her own. How dare Cas look down his nose at the other Angels? Exalted, Chuck's ass.

Bobby was thinking about the list he had seen when he had been God, the list of souls who were designated for the Netherworld. He supposed he could probably disclose the names that had been on that list to his friends now. As he was no longer God, he shouldn't be bound by the confidentiality of the Office anymore. But it likely wouldn't matter anymore, anyway. According to Cas, Death kept changing the names on the list, as was his whim. Bobby hadn't been on it at the time, but he'd been God then. Now the deck of cards had not just been reshuffled, it had been thrown into the air by Lucifer, and all bets were off.

Frank had taken Jody's hand when he'd seen her worried expression over what Cas had said about the disposition of Frank's soul, and he gave her hand a squeeze now. "We'll find a way to be together, don't you worry," he said softly to his wife. "One lifetime is not enough."

Gail was both surprised and impressed to hear her brother say that. It was almost...Cas-worthy. She smiled at her brother. "I'm sure you'll be fine, Frank," she told him. "You're a good guy."

Cas smiled thinly. While he hoped that was the case, he had seen people cast down for far milder offenses than Frank's had been. On the other hand, look at Castiel himself. He had done many terrible things, and now, he was the highest-ranking Angel in Heaven. Not that the hierarchy system had ever meant anything to Cas. But a tiny part of him was proud of the fact, nonetheless.

He looked warmly at Gail. One of the happiest and most proud days of Castiel's life had been the day that their Father had told him that He had seen fit to make Gail an Original, too. The promotion may largely be in name only, but as far as Cas was concerned, she exemplified everything that an Exalted Angel should be. She was loving, selfless, brave, and kind. She was cute, and she was funny. She was everything.

Gail saw Cas looking at her, and she could feel how much he loved her. But once again, the depression that the spell brought was beginning to grow inside of her. She didn't deserve to be an Exalted anything. What had she ever done, or accomplished? Nothing, that's what. And now everybody was going to have to waste their time babysitting her, when they should be concentrating on Lucifer.

"I see you've been studying the Tablets," she said to Kevin, trying to focus on constructive thoughts. She gestured to where the Heaven Tablet lay at the end of the library table. "How's that going?"

Kevin sighed. "Not so great. The language is really, really hard. Sam and I could only make out a few words here and there."

"That's right," Sam confirmed. "The wording is so advanced it's beyond the scope of our knowledge."

"Really? It's that complex?" Cas asked, intrigued. He rose from his chair and walked over to the Tablet, looking down at it. He hadn't looked closely at the etchings on any of the Tablets they'd obtained so far; he'd been far more worried about keeping all of his loved ones alive.

Now that he was scrutinizing the markings, Castiel could see what his friends had been talking about. This was extremely complex language, even for Castiel, and he'd had centuries of study. "I can see that," Cas said softly. "What have you got so far?" Kevin and Sam came over to show him, and as they began to discuss what they were looking at, Dean rolled his eyes and said, "Nerd alert. Come on, Frank. Let's do a beer run."

"I'm going to check on Robbie," Jody told them. "He must be just about finished his assignments by now." As soon as they'd gotten the word that Lucifer had taken over Heaven, Jody had notified the school that Robbie would have to be absent for a while, due to an urgent, personal family matter. But she'd gotten some home assignments for him to do from his teacher, and he'd been in his room working on them.

"I'm gonna have a nap," Bobby announced, looking around as if daring anyone to make a comment. Wisely, no one did.

Cas was intent on what he was studying at the moment, so when everyone stood up and started milling around, he didn't notice that Gail had gotten up, too. She walked into the hallway with the group that was going there, but as Jody and Bobby split off into separate rooms, Gail continued down the hall. Frank and Dean were ahead, going to the door that led out to the garage, but Gail wasn't with them anymore. They thought she had gone with Jody to say hi to Robbie, while Jody and Bobby had assumed that she was going with Dean and her brother. With this many people in the bunker, there was a lot of motion, and none of them had thought that there was anything unusual about it.

Gail walked into the weapons room. Everything was sitting in a jumble on the table. She shook her head. It was time for a reorganization. She ignored the guns, realizing that they wouldn't be loaded. She sifted through the knives, looking for an Angel blade. There had to be one here somewhere; she knew they had at least a few of them. Too bad she had left hers at home. She had never bothered to bring it when she came here to the bunker.

Ah. There was one. Gail picked it up, and she was just turning it towards herself when Chuck shouted, "No!" He rushed into the room and grabbed her arm, twisting it, making her drop the knife.

"Ow!" Gail exclaimed. That had hurt, and now she had an angry red mark on her wrist.

Chuck was aghast. "I'm sorry, Gail! But you were going to kill yourself, and I can't let you do that!"

Then, incredibly, he grabbed her arm and brought it up to his mouth, kissing the red spot. "I can lick it, if you want," he said in a dreamy voice. "I know you like it when Cas does that."

"Chuck! Eww!" Gail exclaimed, trying to wrench her arm out of his grasp. "What are you doing? What's come over you, all of a sudden?"

"I love you," Chuck said to her, and she gave him a half-smile. "I love you too, Chuck, but like a friend, or a brother. I'll do you a favour. I won't tell Cas about this, if you let" - pull - "go" - twist - "now!" she shouted, still struggling. He wasn't letting go, and she was getting frustrated now. Plus, he was hurting her.

"I'd do as she says," Cas said from behind Chuck. "You don't want to see me take my blade out of my pocket, do you, Chuck?"

Chuck let go of Gail and reached down, grabbing the Angel blade she'd dropped on the floor. He wheeled around. "Let's go, then," he said calmly.

Sam couldn't believe it. What the hell was up with Chuck, all of a sudden? They'd been in the library area a minute ago studying the Tablet, and Cas had been able to identify a couple more words from the passage they'd been working on. They had been discussing the possible implications of the message that seemed to be forming, and Sam had been about to confront Cas with what Chuck had told them about the Angels having seen Metatron in Egypt. Cas had never told them about that, and Sam was becoming angry at all the secret-keeping that seemed to be going on. He'd looked up, intending to call on Chuck to confirm his story, and seen that not only was Chuck gone from the room, but so was Gail. Weren't they supposed to be keeping an eye on her at all times? Maybe she'd gone somewhere with one of the others, but it was kind of weird that she hadn't said anything to Cas about where she was going, knowing how worried he'd been about her. Then they had heard the shouting coming from down the hall, and Cas had raced down here with Sam on his heels.

Cas and Chuck were circling each other now, blades in hand. "Don't make me hurt you, Chuck," Cas cautioned him. "Obviously, Lucifer has put some kind of spell on you. Put the blade down, and we'll talk about it."

"No," Chuck said. "You'll just take Gail away from me again, and hurt her, like you did before."

Cas was startled by that. What did Chuck know about "before"? Had he been having visions? "No, I won't, Chuck," he said. "I can promise you that. She's my wife, and I love her. I would never hurt her."

"You're a liar!" Chuck yelled, lunging at Cas with the blade. Cas sidestepped him easily. But Chuck wheeled around immediately and went for Cas again, and again Cas sidestepped him. This time he gave Chuck a little push, sending him off balance. But Chuck still didn't stop. It was Cas himself who had taught Chuck to be relentless, all of those hours in this very room. Chuck slashed at Cas and tore his shirt with the blade, then he jabbed at Cas's torso and stabbed Cas twice, in quick succession.

Cas pushed Chuck away again, looking down at himself. The wounds were not all that serious, but he was bleeding fairly copiously. If this had been a training session, Cas would have smiled, and congratulated Chuck on getting the better of him. But he was getting angry now. Cas had seen Chuck making his advances towards Gail, and now, he had made Cas bleed.

"You only get one more warning," he told Chuck quietly.

"You're the one who's bleeding, not me," Chuck sneered. "I guess you're not Mister Perfect, after all." He advanced on Cas again.

But Gail had had it now. She stepped in-between the men, facing Chuck. "You need to stop it now, Chuck," she said.

"Me?" Chuck protested. "What about HIM?" He gestured angrily towards Cas with the blade but made no move to attack him. He couldn't take a chance on Gail possibly getting hurt.

"What about him, Chuck? You're the one who attacked him!" she pointed out.

Chuck thought about that for a moment. Actually, she was right. What was he so angry about, anyway? Now that he'd been out of Heaven's library for a while, away from the sculpture, the spell on him was growing a little weaker. Now, instead of being in the presence of the evil spell brought about by the hex bag, Chuck was surrounded by good guys, steps away from one of the holiest objects on Earth, the candlestick personally blessed by Pope Francis. Not to mention the Tablets. For everyone else, the fact that Lucifer had taken over Heaven was terrifying, with no possible upside. But for Chuck, it had been an unforeseen bonus. The longer he stayed in the bunker, away from that sculpture, the less he would be breathing in its toxic fumes.

He looked at the blade he was holding. Had he actually stabbed Cas? "I'm sorry," he murmured. Chuck turned to look at Sam. "Here, take this," Chuck said, handing the blade to him.

Once Sam had possession of the blade, Gail relaxed. She turned around quickly and put her hand on Cas's stomach, healing his wounds. He gave her a terse smile. "Thank you, my love," he said softly. Then he looked past her at Chuck. "Explain yourself," Cas said sharply.

"I don't have to explain myself to you," Chuck mumbled uncomfortably.

"You accosted my wife, and then you attacked me with a blade," Cas said angrily. "Therefore, I say you do." He looked at the red mark on Gail's arm. "At the very least, you owe Gail an apology. And if I see you touch her again, you won't get any warnings, spell or no spell," Cas added, glaring at Chuck.

"If she tries to hurt herself with an Angel blade again, you're damn right I'm going to touch her," Chuck shot back.

Oh, crap, Gail thought. Was that what had happened? Cas looked at her and she gave him a half-shrug.

Now Cas was uncertain about how to feel. He was still really angry at Chuck, but if that had actually happened, he owed Chuck a huge debt of gratitude, as well. For all his talk about protecting her, Cas had failed her. This was all his fault anyway, to begin with. He had taken his eye off the ball, as Sam and Dean would probably say.

Cas pulled Gail to him for a hug. "I'm sorry. I let you down," he said to her. "I promise you it won't happen again." He looked at Chuck. "I guess I owe you my thanks, then," Cas said to him. "But that does not excuse your behaviour."

Chuck was confused now, and a little embarrassed, too. Why HAD he behaved that way towards Gail? He only loved her like a sister. Yes, he had fantasized about her from time to time, and a couple of times, he might have fantasized about himself in bed with both her and Cas. But Chuck would never act on those feelings. Due to his visions, he had been a little more voyeuristic than he should be when it came to the things that his friends did in the bedroom, but no one needed to know about that, and Chuck had himself convinced it was harmless. But, if that was the case, what the hell was he doing kissing her, then? He'd done that in the library in Heaven too, and tried to grope her, as well. "I'm sorry, Gail," Chuck said, avoiding her gaze. "I don't know what's wrong with me." Then he left the room.

"Well, that was different," Gail quipped in a shaky voice. She looked at Cas. "Are you OK, sweetie?"

He took her hand, shaking his head slowly. "It's your welfare that I'm concerned about," Cas told her. He looked over at Sam, who was already moving towards the table. "I know what you're going to say, Cas," Sam said. "These'll all be locked up, right now."

Gail was embarrassed. "I'm sorry, Sam," she said to him.

He smiled grimly. "Not your fault." Sam looked at Cas, and now his lips were twitching. ""Is it OK if I hug your wife, or will the blade come out again?"

Wow, if he only knew how unfunny that would have been a while back, Gail thought. But she rolled her eyes now and said, "Come here, you smart-ass," wrapping her arms around Sam's waist. He hugged her and said, "We'll solve this, Gail, I promise."

"Did you figure out anything on the Tablet?" she asked the men.

"I think we might have," Sam replied, "but the language is very complex."

"Some of the terms used are extremely arcane," Cas added. "I can only conclude that they were either written by Metatron, or someone from his era."

"Which brings me to the question I was just about to ask you, Cas," Sam said, "and I'm sorry, Gail, but you're included in this: Why the hell didn't either of you tell us that you talked to him in Egypt? What the hell is up with that? Why would you keep something that big a secret, and why is he still free, Cas?"

Cas frowned. "I had my reasons, Sam. How did you find out?"

"Chuck told me," Sam replied. He gave a frustrated sigh. "Chuck said that Metatron claimed he's willing to play ball with you, as far as Lucifer is concerned."

Cas nodded. "That's right."

Sam's eyebrows raised. "And you believed him?"

Cas gave him a tight smile. "I know, it seems very unlikely, doesn't it? But I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. I think he has truly repented of his actions. So, I told him that I would spare him if he helped us with Lucifer." His brow furrowed. "And if he was sincere, we may need him now more than ever, since Crowley has turned his back on us."

"Do you think he could translate those Tablets for us?" Gail asked them.

"I'm sure he could," Cas replied.

"Do we know where he is right now?" Sam asked.

"I know exactly where he is," Cas said. "He's on location, with the Supernatural movie."

"Where are they now?" Gail asked, curious.

"Believe it or not, they're in Mongolia," Cas told her. "I've been keeping tabs on Metatron ever since we saw him that day. I wanted to make sure he was behaving himself, and I also wanted to ensure that we know where he is if and when we need him."

"Well, I guess we'll find out if he was sincere or not, then," Gail said.

"What are you going to do?" Sam asked Cas.

Cas frowned again. "Would you and Dean be all right with inviting him here to look at the Tablets?"

"Forget it, Cas," Dean said from behind him. He and Frank had just come back from their excursion, and he'd ducked in here when he'd heard the name "Metatron". You tended to perk up when you heard the name of the guy who had killed you, and most of your loved ones too, at one time or another.

"We need those Tablets translated, Dean," Cas argued. "From what I was able to glean, there may be a way to get Lucifer out of Heaven, using the language on the Heaven Tablet as our key."

Dean sighed. It was bad enough that they'd had to have Crowley here a number of times; now they had to invite that little troll into their home, too? "Fine," he said, throwing up his hands. "Just give me a couple of minutes' notice, so I can hide all the valuable stuff." He looked at Sam. "I can see you're already hiding the weapons. Good idea. Maybe keep a couple out for us, though, just in case."

Cas and Sam exchanged glances, but neither of them said anything. There was no point in upsetting either Dean or Frank by telling them that Gail had tried to commit suicide again. But, on second thought, Cas thought that he might take Dean aside and speak to him about it privately. Apparently, Dean was next in line, so to speak. If the situation were not so gravely serious, it might even be amusing. Whoever or whatever had determined these things had obviously settled the age-old question about who Cas's favourite was, after Gail.

But that was when Frank asked to talk to Cas, alone.

"What is it, Frank?" Cas asked Gail's brother. Sam and Dean had accompanied Gail back to the library area after Frank had insisted on a private conversation with Cas. Cas had been reluctant to let Gail go anywhere without him, even just to the library area, but he decided that he was being silly. There would be a number of people there, and Cas was sure he could rely on Sam not to let Gail out of his sight again. Still, he was anxious to get back out there.

"I thought you said that Dean wasn't gonna try anything as long as Gail was OK," Frank said to Cas once they were alone.

Cas nodded briefly. "That's the premise we're going under, yes," he replied. "Why?"

"Because Dean nearly drove us off the damn bridge on the way to the beer store, that's why," Frank fumed. "I had to haul on the wheel so we didn't end up taking a cold bath. And he doesn't even remember doing it. He still thinks we went to the beer store, because I told him we did. I thought we'd better get back here as soon as possible. I have a case of beer at home. I'll just go get it and bring it here. We'd better keep an eye on both of those nuts, now."

Cas sighed. Great. "Thank you for letting me know, Frank."

"Do you think Metatron will be able to do something?" Frank asked his brother-in-law.

"I certainly hope so, Frank," Cas replied.

"What if he can't, or won't?" Frank persisted. He'd heard lots of stories about Metatron from the Winchesters.

"Then I'll kill him," Cas said shortly.

Frank started to smile, and then he realized something: Cas wasn't kidding. Not in the slightest.

"I can't come there," Metatron whined. "You'll have to come here."

Cas's grip tightened on his phone. "You said you would help, if I let you live," he said through gritted teeth. "Do not make me regret that decision. Your status in that regard could be easily changed."

Frank started to grin. Cas sure had a way with words, sometimes. But then his smile faded. The little twerp had better help them. Cas had told him he suspected that if Metatron could translate the passage that Kevin and Sam had been looking at, they might be able to kick Lucifer out of Heaven and break the spell at the same time.

Frank looked at Gail now. She was sitting in Cas's lap, and Cas had one arm wrapped tightly around her. Under normal circumstances, either Frank or one of the others would be rolling their eyes and teasing the couple. But despite Frank's penchant for black humour, it wasn't so funny when you realized that Cas was holding her to prevent her from trying to kill herself.

It was the same with Dean. Frank had put himself in charge of keeping an eye on Dean. He hadn't wanted to freak Sam out, and Cas said he wanted Sam to be able to concentrate on the Tablet. So every time that Dean had started to get up, Frank had jumped up first, offering to get another round. So Dean had sat back down and let him. It had turned out that there was another case of beer sitting in the garage, so Frank had just brought that inside and stocked the fridge without further comment.

Sam sat back in his chair, rubbing his eyes with one hand. He was getting tired of staring at the stupid Tablet. He was studying himself cross-eyed, and he hadn't been able to figure anything else out. He looked around the room. Everyone who was still sitting around the table was just looking down at it. The humans were drinking, and the Angels were quiet. Cas was still arguing with Metatron on the phone, and Gail was in Cas's lap, squirming. Dean and Frank had started to argue now, because Dean wanted to go to the kitchen and make a sandwich, and Frank insisted on going with him, even though Dean said he didn't want Frank to accompany him.

Sam couldn't take it anymore. They were all driving him nuts. He had to get the hell out of there before he lost his mind, too. He stood up and marched down the hall to the garage. He got in one of the spare cars and sat there for a minute. Why was he here? Was there somewhere he wanted to go?

He opened the glove compartment and took out the knife. There was at least one weapon hidden in every car in the garage. Sam sat behind the wheel, looking at the knife. Suddenly, it seemed like a very reasonable idea to take the knife and slash his wrists with it. Isn't that really why he had come out here? So that he could commit suicide in peace?

Tommy stood on a chair in his and Barry's room. If he tied the necktie tight enough around the hook at the top of the door, he should be able to put it around his neck and then kick the chair away. He'd been studying the door for about half an hour, and now, he had finally decided to do it.

"Frank, I love you, man, but you're gonna have to get off my back," Dean barked at Gail's brother. "I'm gonna go take a leak, then I'm gonna make a sandwich, and then I'll come back. I don't need a chaperone to do those things. Now, buzz off."

"I want to go with you," Gail said now. She was struggling mightily, trying to get Cas to let go of her.

"Why?" Frank asked her suspiciously. "You don't eat, and you're sure as hell not going to the bathroom."

"Cas, let me go!" Gail exclaimed, and Chuck was glaring at Cas now. "Let her go," he said angrily. "Can't you see she wants to be free?"

Cas was going crazy. Metatron was telling him they had to bring the Tablet to Mongolia because he was in the middle of script rewrites. Gail was struggling against him, shouting at him to let her go, and Chuck was yelling now, too. Frank and Dean were arguing loudly, and then suddenly, Bobby stormed into the room and said, "What the hell's all the commotion?"

"I'll call you back, unless I decide to just come there and kill you, instead," Cas said angrily into the phone. Then he hung up, throwing the phone on the table. He put the arm that had been holding the phone around Gail also, trying to hold onto her.

"Please, Gail," Cas pleaded with her. "Don't. Please."

She was crying now. "I have to, Cas. I can't stand it. Please, let me go."

Dean and Frank were jostling now. "Let me go, Frank," Dean growled.

"You're gonna have to knock me out first," Frank said. He grabbed Dean in a big bear hug, restraining him.

Jody came out from the hallway and stood beside Bobby. "OK, this is getting ridiculous," she said. "Here's what's gonna happen now. We're going to lock these lunatics up in one room until we can sort them out. Robbie's room is childproofed, as far as anything they could use to hurt themselves. There's nothing more lethal than a Q-Tip in there. Cas, you take Gail down there, and Frank, you take Dean. We'll lock them in there until we can figure out what to do." She clapped her hands. "Let's go, Chop chop."

Frank and Cas looked at Jody gratefully. They took their respective charges down the hall and locked them in Robbie's room. Jody and Bobby looked at Frank and Cas. "Where's Sam?" Bobby asked them. "And where are Barry and Tommy?"

They all exchanged glances. Now Cas was even more worried. Could the madness be spreading? "Let's split up and look for them," he suggested, and they started checking all the rooms.

Bobby walked into the kitchen and saw Barry there, putting the kettle on the stove. "Hey, Bobby," Barry said mildly. "Did you have a good nap?" Bobby stared at him for a moment, but Barry seemed perfectly sane to him, so he asked Barry if he had seen Sam or Tommy.

"Sam went into the garage a few minutes ago," Barry told Bobby. "I talked to him, but I don't think he heard me. Tommy went to our room. I think maybe he was going to take a nap, too."

Cas heard Barry say this from his vantage point out in the hallway, and he went to Barry and Tommy's room, while Bobby stepped out to the garage.

Sam was slowly rolling up his sleeves. He didn't want to get blood on his shirt. Dean could never get blood out, on those rare occasions that he did the laundry.

Bobby yanked open the car door on the driver's side. "What are you doing?" he asked Sam.

Sam calmly explained what he'd been thinking. "Maybe you can show Dean how to do the laundry properly, after I'm gone," he said to Bobby.

"Are you crazy, boy?" Bobby asked Sam incredulously. "Why in the hell would you want to kill yourself?"

"Because I'm supposed to, Bobby," Sam said quietly. "Lucifer wants it. None of us will ever stop, until we're all dead."

Bobby was mad, but he was also scared. "Give me the knife, Sam."

Sam shook his head. He'd finished rolling up the second sleeve now. "I can't do that, Bobby. I'm sorry, but I need to do this." He gripped the knife tighter.

Suddenly, the passenger door opened. "Sam, what the hell?" Frank said. Sam turned his head to look at Frank, and when he did, Frank said, "Sorry, Sam." He reached across the passenger seat and punched Sam full in the face. Sam was so surprised that he dropped the knife. Bobby reached into the car and picked it up. "Good job, Frank," Bobby said, nodding at Gail's brother.

"I need that, Bobby," Sam said mildly, gesturing to the knife.

"Do ya?" Bobby said, rolling his eyes. He and Frank exchanged glances. What a difference between Sam, who was so serene, and Gail and Dean, who were acting like crazy people. "Come and get it, then," Bobby continued. He walked away from the car and into the bunker. Sam got out of the car and followed him, rubbing his face where Frank had hit him. He didn't say anything to Frank, or even acknowledge his presence. Sam's eyes were focused on the knife that Bobby was holding, but he made no move to attack Bobby.

Bobby led Sam to Robbie's room, and he and Frank pushed Sam inside and re-locked the door.

"So I guess there's only Tommy unaccounted for now," Bobby said.

"Not anymore," Cas said. "Please unlock the door again, Bobby." Cas had Tommy by the arm, and he was leading him down the hallway. Although Tommy was docile, as Sam had been, Cas didn't want to take any chances.

"Not him, too?" Frank exclaimed.

"I'm afraid so," Cas said grimly. "He was in his and Barry's room, trying to hang himself."

"I'm sorry, Cas," Tommy said dully. "I was supposed to do that."

"That's what Sam said, too," Bobby informed Cas, frowning. He unlocked the door, and Cas led Tommy into the room. Bobby and Frank stood by the door, prepared to intervene if anyone tried to leave.

But the room's occupants were quiet at the moment. Gail was sitting on the edge of the bed and Dean was sitting beside her, but the two were ignoring each other.

Meanwhile, Sam had been calmly pacing the floor, ignoring both of them. Gail and Dean had been arguing when he'd first arrived a moment ago, but once they'd seen who was with Sam, they had lapsed into silence.

Cas walked over the Gail, then knelt down in front of her. "How are you feeling?" he asked her softly.

"Terrible," she said irritably. "I asked Dean for a weapon, and he won't give me one."

"I told you, I don't have one," Dean retorted. "If I did, I'd be using it on myself right now."

"I'm sure there must be something in here we can use," Sam told them both, still walking slowly around the room.

"Does anyone have a belt, or shoelaces, maybe?" Tommy asked them.

Cas, Bobby and Frank exchanged startled glances. They hadn't thought of that. They peered closer at the men, but none of them were wearing anything that could be used in that way. Bobby looked at Gail, then at Cas. Cas gave him a brief shake of the head. No, Gail didn't have anything on her that could serve as a weapon.

But Frank was frowning. He stood over Gail and said, "Give it here."

"What?" she said innocently.

"Your bra," he said.

"Frank," Cas said uncomfortably.

"Come on, Cas, you were thinking the same thing, I know you were," Frank said to his brother-in-law. "And do you think for one minute that she didn't think of it too, as soon as Tommy said that about belts and shoelaces?"

"Fine. But we can't ask her to undress here, in front of everyone," Cas pointed out.

Gail gave a short laugh. "Wow. Even when I'm crazy, apparently I still hate it when people talk about me as if I weren't in the room." She glared at Frank. "If the Warden will permit me, I'll step across the hall to the washroom and take it off there, then." She rose and crossed over to the door of the room. Cas was right behind her, and when she tried to enter the bathroom and close the door, he stopped the door's movement with the palm of his hand.

"I'm sorry, Gail, but I'm coming in with you," Cas told her.

She sighed, but she backed away and let him come into the room. He was looking at her sadly.

Despite the way she was feeling, Gail smiled at Cas sympathetically. "My poor husband. I guess you never dreamed that babysitting a nutjob would be part of your wedding vows."

But Cas was feeling badly for her. He knew Gail very well, so he knew that she frequently turned to humour as a coping mechanism when she was feeling uncomfortable. This must be very strange for her, and embarrassing too, especially since all of the men know what was happening in here. "You're not a nutjob," he said, taking her hands in his. "You're under a spell. I know you can't help it. But I will always take care of you, Gail. We put you in that room to keep you safe. All of you."

She continued to look at him. Then she said, "Do you really want me to give you my bra, Cas?"

He was frowning. "I'm afraid so, Gail. Please understand. I just want to make sure you're safe."

Gail sighed. "I know you do, Cas. I just never thought you'd have to keep me safe from myself." She made a face. "But I guess I'd better give it to you. I've been having some pretty bad thoughts." Then she gave him a small smile. "I don't suppose you'd like to make it fun, would you?" she joked.

Cas returned her smile with a thin one of his own. "I'd love to, but I'd better not," he told her. "I need to work on figuring out how to stop this."

She nodded. Then she went underneath her top and unhooked her bra, taking it off and handing it to him. He looked at it for a moment, then looked at her, and then put it in the inside pocket of his jacket. Then he moved closer towards her, putting his arms around her.

"Thank you, Gail," he said softly. "But, for the record, I wish that I was taking it from you in our usual manner, and for our usual reason."

Gail smiled. "Thanks for that," she said. She kissed him on the lips, and he kissed her back. "You'd better lock me back up now," Gail told him. "I'm starting to feel depressed again. I'm sorry, Cas."

He brought her back to the room, then kissed her gently on the cheek. "I'll be back to see how you're doing in a bit," Cas told her. He looked at Tommy and the Winchesters. "I promise you all that I will spend all my efforts working on a solution for this...situation."

Cas and Frank and Bobby locked the room and walked out to the library area to rejoin Jody and Barry and the Angels, who were all gathered there. They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, and then Cas pounded his fist on the table in frustration. He snatched up his cell phone and called Metatron again.

"You promised you would help," Cas said without preliminary when Metatron answered. "Do you want to continue living, or don't you?"

"I'll help, Castiel, I'll help," Metatron assured him calmly. "There's no need for death threats. What do you need?"

"Have you any idea how to translate this phrase?" Cas asked. He stood and walked over to the Tablet. "I'm taking a photo and sending it to you. Tell me anything you can. We're in a crisis situation here, and I'm not leaving here until it's resolved."

"OK, Castiel. Go ahead and send it," Metatron said soothingly. He could hear the barely suppressed anger in his erstwhile enemy's voice. The last thing Metatron needed would be an angry Castiel popping over here with his blade in his hand.

A moment later, Metatron received the picture on his phone. Castiel's finger was pointing to the phrase in question. Metatron squinted. He mouthed the phrase, thinking about its meaning. Then it dawned on him. He read it again, out loud, just to be sure.

"'The blade of the Scribe will' - " Metatron squinted again " - cancel? Or, negate. Yes. 'Negate the evil intent. Use the blade to perform the act which you are attempting to prevent'."

What the hell? Cas thought. Was Metatron trying to be funny by speaking in rhyme? He asked him this now.

"No, Castiel, I'm being sincere," Metatron assured him. "That's how it reads."

Castiel thought about that. The first part was self-evident. They needed Metatron's blade. Luckily, it was sitting in the weapons room at the bunker right now. So, they were supposed to use Metatron's blade to - what? To prevent the suicide attempts, they had to...No, that was impossible.

"I'll call you back," Cas said, jabbing the End Call button.

He turned to the others and told them what Metatron had said. "What does that sound like to you?" Cas asked them.

"It sounds like they're saying that you have to have them stab themselves with the Scribe's blade in order to cancel the spell," Riley mused aloud. He was eager to help. It had been very upsetting to the young Angel to see Castiel's wife struggling against him, knowing that she was under the influence of an evil spell cast by Lucifer. Poor Cas was so freaked out.

Cas nodded. That's what it had sounded like to him, too. "Kevin?" he said, looking to the Prophet for confirmation. Kevin scrutinized the Tablet again. "That's probably it, Cas," Kevin told him.

"Probably?" Bobby said sharply. "This is Metatron we're talking about, right? Since when do we believe anything he says? Couldn't this be a trick?"

"Of course it could," Frank said. "Crowley, Metatron...how the hell are you supposed to be able to trust any of those little douchebags?"

Cas frowned. "I don't. But we've got to try something. I'll see if any of the men want to volunteer." He looked at his friends. "Bobby, Frank, Jody, will you come with me? We'll get everyone and bring them back here. I'll get Metatron's blade from the weapons room. If Sam or Dean are willing, we'll try the theory out on one of them."

Bobby nodded slowly. "Fair enough. But, what if Metatron is lying?"

Cas smiled grimly. "I think you know the answer to that, Bobby. If Metatron is being in any way untruthful, the next use I'll have for his blade will be to plunge it into his chest. And I'll make sure to twist it a few times after it goes in." Cas had not forgotten any of his past tribulations at Metatron's hands. God help the Scribe if he was lying to Castiel now.

They were all assembled in the library area now. Cas had handed the blade to Bobby, because he was holding on to Gail tight, with both arms. Frank had Dean, Jody had Sam, and Barry had Tommy. Cas had paired each of them with someone they cared about, hoping their struggles would be less fierce that way. But all of the victims of the spell were growing extremely restless now. Cas didn't like the way that Gail was looking at the blade in Bobby's hand, almost as if she wanted to make a break for it and grab it from him. Cas was holding her extremely tightly now, and she was not happy about it.

"Give it here, Bobby," Dean said. "I'll do it."

Cas had explained the theory to all of them, emphasizing that he was not certain whether Metatron was telling the truth. But Cas was of the opinion that he was. Metatron knew that Castiel knew exactly where he was, and Metatron also knew that Castiel would be extremely angry if he were double-crossed yet again. This would truly be Metatron's last chance.

"All right, Dean," Castiel agreed. "But give the blade back to Bobby immediately afterwards and make only one wound. Agreed?"

"Yeah, Cas. Agreed," Dean said with a frown. He was itching to do a lot more than that to himself, but he had done a gut check while they were in Robbie's room, and he realized he couldn't let any of the others try this. Especially Gail. Dean looked at her now, crying, struggling in Cas's arms. An Angel blade could easily kill her. Even if this stupid idea worked, he had no idea how they were going to successfully pull it off in her case.

But, first things first. Bobby approached Dean and Frank with the blade. Frank frowned, but he let go of Dean as Bobby handed the elder Winchester the blade.

"Riley, get over here," Bobby said tersely. Riley walked over to where Bobby stood, and he stared at Dean. "As soon as he stabs himself with the knife, I want you to heal him," Bobby said to the young Angel.

"Me?" Riley said doubtfully. He looked at Cas, then at the other Angels. "But I've never - "

"All the more reason," Bobby said gruffly. "Look, Riley. If you want to be on the team, you have to be able to do everything the other Angels can do. I can't do those things anymore, so somebody's gotta take my place."

Riley looked at Dean, wide-eyed. Dean felt sorry for the guy. Everybody had to start someplace. Dean still remembered how scared he had been when he'd had to make his first kill. And his father hadn't exactly been filled with compassion about it, either.

"I trust you, Riley," Dean told the young Angel. He could see the light rise in Riley's eyes when he said that. Dean didn't think that Riley was nearly as much of a screw-up as Riley himself seemed to think he was. All he needed was a few shots of self-confidence.

"You can do it, Riley," Gail said suddenly. Even though she was deep in her depression right now, she'd also seen the look on Riley's face, and Gail could identify with it. When she'd first become an Angel, she hadn't known how to do anything. She would have been lost without Cas's loving guidance, and support. And now here he was, years later, still giving that to her. She tried to calm down. The urge to kill herself was still very strong, but another part of her fervently hoped that this would work, before it was too late for all of them. Poor Cas. She had put him through so much in the past few hours.

Dean took a deep breath, screwing up his nerve. Then he turned the blade around and stabbed himself in the chest. Crap, that hurts, he thought. But it wasn't as though he hadn't been stabbed there before. The blood started pouring from his chest as he took the knife out. Riley rushed forward, but Dean held up a hand. "Just...wait a second," he gasped.

Riley looked at him uncertainly. "Wanna...make sure," Dean said. But he was starting to grey out now. He dropped the blade.

"Do it!" Bobby barked. Riley put his hands on Dean's chest and he watched, fascinated, as the glow emanated from his hands into Dean and the wound healed.

"Wow," Riley said in a hushed voice, and the Angels all smiled. They all remembered their first healing very well, and how wonderful it had felt.

Dean shook his head to clear it, looking down at his chest. "Thanks, Riley," he said, and the young Angel broke into a grin.

"How do you feel, Dean?" Cas asked him.

"Great," Dean responded. "Terrific."

"Do you want to kill yourself now?" Bobby asked him bluntly.

Dean's brow furrowed. "What? What are you talking about, Bobby? Why the hell would I want to do that for?"

Bobby and Cas looked at each other. Maybe this weird idea wasn't so weird after all. Frank bent down and picked the bloody Angel blade up off the floor, handing it to Dean. "Here, I think you dropped this," he said, handing it to Dean.

The others tensed, but Dean just shrugged. "It's not mine," he said, handing it over to Bobby. "Here. You take it. Anybody want a beer?" he said to the room in general. "Frank? Sammy?" Dean noticed that Jody was sitting beside Sam, with her hand on his arm. Like Tommy with Barry, there hadn't been much restraining to be done. Those two were also apparently suicidal, but they had been docile with their loved ones. Gail was the only one who was still struggling, now that Dean himself had been cured.

"Front and centre, Sam," Bobby said, gesturing. Jody led the younger Winchester over to where Bobby stood, and the process was repeated. The only difference was that Bobby had asked Ethan to heal Sam. Ethan had been stewing in his own juices ever since the Angels had gotten here, and Bobby was pretty sure he had figured out why, now. They would have to have a little chat about it later, once everything was straightened out.

Then the process was repeated, Sam was cured, and then it was Tommy's turn. He was extremely nervous. Unlike Sam and Dean, he had never suffered a stab wound before, so he had no idea what to expect. He bit his lip, trying to work up the nerve to stab himself. "Hold my hand," he said to Barry, who smiled grimly. "I AM holding it," Barry told him. "And I won't stop, no matter what."

"Your turn for some healing, Kevin," Bobby said, but Tommy held up a hand.

"No, Bobby," Tommy said. "If I'm going to have to do this, I want Cas to heal me. No offense, Kevin."

Bobby opened his mouth to argue, and then he thought better of it. Tommy was on the periphery of their world; if he wanted the Angel he had first met to do it, Bobby could understand. But he looked at Cas, who was now holding Gail in an iron grip. Two cures, and one more to go before they got to her. She was clawing at Cas, trying to force him to release her. Once Tommy was cured, she would be the only one left. Cas would probably have to chain her up until they could figure out a way to get her to stab herself in the chest with an Angel blade and not die.

"I'll take her, Bobby," Frank said. He walked over to where Cas and Gail were sitting, reaching out his arms. Cas stood and handed Gail over to her brother, as gently as he could considering the ferocity of her struggles. "Please don't hurt her, Frank," Cas said.

Frank looked at Cas, incredulous. Gail was kicking out, flailing her arms. Frank restrained her, but only with a great effort. How strong WAS Cas, anyway? "Are you nuts?" Frank asked his brother-in-law. "I'll be lucky if SHE doesn't hurt ME."

Cas hurried over to where Bobby stood with Tommy and Barry. He was anxious to move this along. If her struggles were this fierce now, he could only imagine what they would be like once Tommy was cured.

Tommy looked at Cas. "I hope you don't mind, Cas. No offense to any of the other Angels, but if I'm going to do this, I wanted to trust my life to you."

Cas gave Tommy a thin smile. He took Tommy's hand, the hand that Barry was not holding, and took Barry's hand in his other, forming a small circle with his two friends. "Thank you for your trust, Tommy," Cas said humbly. "I want the both of you to know that you can always trust in me. I'm sorry if I led you to believe that I had deserted you. I will never forsake you."

Tommy gave Cas's hand a squeeze and then dropped it, accepting the knife from Bobby. "It's really just an excuse to get you to touch my chest," Tommy quipped. He looked at Barry. "Sorry, hon."

Cas smiled, but his smile faded almost immediately. Gail would have loved that, if she were in her right mind at the moment. He couldn't wait to get her cured. But, first things first.

Tommy took a couple of deep breaths, squeezed Barry's hand, hard, and stabbed himself in the chest. Castiel stepped forward and healed his friend. Barry and Tommy both embraced Cas, thanking him profusely. Tommy had dropped the knife on the floor after he'd stabbed himself, and no one picked it up.

Gail was wild now. She screamed, "Let me go!", kicking backwards at Frank. Her heel connected with his kneecap, making him yell out in pain. He momentarily loosened his grip on her and she broke free, running to the spot where the blade lay on the floor. She dove for it, and Cas dove for her. But he was too late. She grabbed the knife and sprang to her feet.

Cas got up slowly. "Please don't, Gail," he pleaded with her.

"I have to, Cas," she told him. "He needs a sacrifice. I'm the sacrifice."

"No, that's not true, Gail," Cas insisted. He was stalling for time now, trying to estimate his chances. Could he disarm her quickly enough? She had the blade pointed at her own chest. Disarming an enemy was much easier. You were trying to prevent them from hurting you, not themselves. If the enemy were to be hurt in the process, so much the better. It was much different when it came to your loved one. Seeing Gail pointing an Angel blade at herself hurt Cas just as much as if she were actually stabbing him with it.

"It is, Cas," Gail said calmly. Now that she was just about to do it, she no longer felt agitated. "I can hear him calling me now. He says he needs to show me the way."

"Who does?" Cas asked, puzzled.

"Death," Gail answered.

Cas's blood ran cold. "No. Not that. Please."

"I have to go, Cas. He needs to see me now," Gail said, and she stabbed herself in the chest.

The pain was incredible, much worse than anything she had ever experienced before. Cas rushed forward, intending to prevent her from taking the knife back out of her chest. As horrible as it was, now that the blade was in, it had to stay in, until they could figure out how to save her. If the blade stayed in her chest, her essence would stay inside of her. She wouldn't truly be dead until it came out. But Gail knew that too, of course. So she pulled it out immediately.

"No!" Cas shouted. He rushed forward to heal her, but she pushed him away. "You need to let me go, Cas," Gail told him softly. "I'm the next sacrifice." The golden essence started to flow out of her mouth as the blood flowed out of the wound in her chest. "I love you, sweetie," she said weakly. Things were starting to get dark now. She slid down to the floor, and then she passed out, and then she was gone.

VIGNETTE - AngelSpeak

"Imagine a world with no danger, and no worries," Death said to Gail. He was sitting on a stone bench in front of a fountain. She looked around. Where were they? This didn't look like any place that they had ever been to on Earth, and it didn't look like the Garden, either.

"Frank does," Death continued.

Her forehead wrinkled. She walked around the bench and sat down beside him. He was not looking at her. "Frank does what?" she asked Death.

He frowned. "What did I just say? If you want to learn, you have to listen."

Gail rolled her eyes. "Sorry, but I just died. Give me two seconds to get used to that, will you?"

He said nothing, and she let out a frustrated breath. "OK, so you're telling me that Frank thinks of a world where there's no danger. Well, yes; that would be great, wouldn't it?"

"Actually, no," Death said dryly. "Everyone thinks it would be, but I can assure you, it would not."

"Yes, I know," Gail said, somewhat impatiently. "Yin and yang, balance of nature, yada yada. It's only when things are bad that you can truly appreciate the good. I get that."

"The Tablets are not the end of the quest," Death continued, as if she hadn't even spoken.

Gail looked at him, startled. "What?!" she exclaimed.

"I believe you heard me," he said, a slight edge creeping into his voice. "Luke is holding back."

Gail was puzzled. Just exactly what was she supposed to do with that information? "Is that why I had to die?" she asked him. "Am I supposed to get that information from him?" She looked around curiously. "Are we in the Netherworld?"

"You're very inquisitive," Death remarked.

"That's because you're not telling me anything," Gail retorted. Hey, what was he going to do to her? Kill her?

Death frowned, looking off into the distance. "Fine. I will tell you something, then. The vampire Jason found Oliver's blood to have a very unique taste. He may find yours to be similar."

Her eyebrows shot up. Not if she could help it, she thought. "What do you mean by that?" But Death said nothing. She laughed shortly. "Who are you, Death, or Yoda? Are you sure you're not an Angel? Cause you're sure talking like one."

His lips twitched for the briefest of seconds. "I am telling you all that I can," he said calmly. "I am bound by certain rules, the same as anyone else."

"But why are you even bothering to tell me anything at all?" Gail asked him. She was thoroughly confused now. "Am I the one who's supposed to communicate with the living now, or something?"

"You're not necessarily deceased, yourself," Death said tonelessly. "Take heed to what I tell you. Then, if you decide to go back, you will find the information useful."

If she decided to go back? What the hell? Was she dead, or not? He was speaking in riddles. She hated riddles.

"You will first have to remove Lucifer from the Earth. As long as he is around, you cannot move forward," Death went on.

"We're trying to do that!" she blurted out, frustrated. "But the Tablet missions have stalled, and now you tell me that even if we get them all, we're not done yet? Meanwhile, Lucifer's in Heaven, terrorizing the Angels! He made us all crazy, and now he's made me commit suicide! How are we supposed to overcome all that?"

Death looked directly at her now, favouring her with a thin smile. "I had heard that you were...a determined individual."

Gail's lips twitched. "You must have been talking to Castiel, then. Anyone else would probably have said 'stubborn'."

He inclined his head. "Eradicating Lucifer will not be easy. It will involve much pain and sacrifice. If you decide to return to your loved ones, you must know that not all of you will survive."

"Great," Gail said, sighing. "I don't suppose you can tell me where we go from here, then?"

"As a matter of fact, I can," Death replied. "Mongolia."

Her head was reeling. "This is one of the strangest non-conversations I've ever had," she told him. "Can I please go back to Cas now?"

He lifted an eyebrow. "Are you absolutely certain you want to do that?" he said dryly. "Much of your pain stems from your association with him, you know."

"Now you sound just like Crowley," she remarked.

Death shrugged. "Do not concern yourself with him. He will be judged, as you all will be in the end. The Book Of Life will be used to judge the dead, and The Book Of the Dead holds the key to all of your fates. But I'm getting way ahead of myself. If you wish, I'll take you back to your husband. See the Scribe. Take the Heaven Tablet with you. Metatron will help you to oust Lucifer from Heaven, and then, when the time comes, he will stand with you against him. Crowley's position remains unclear at this time." He stood from the bench, extending his hand to her. "Come, my dear. Don't be afraid to take my hand. It is the fear of Death that makes it difficult for people to live their lives to the fullest. The happiest individuals in existence are those who are prepared to die at any time."

She took his hand. It was bloodless and dry, like holding a piece of ancient wood. Gail felt unsettled. "What was the purpose of our meeting here today?" she asked him quietly.

"Purpose?" Death echoed. "Why did there need to be a purpose? Maybe I just wanted to make your acquaintance. Maybe Castiel needed a bit of a wake-up call. Or maybe this whole thing was just an illusion. Take your pick."

Gail shook her head. "If you want to get to know me, just call, next time. You can come over to the house. I'll throw together a nice brunch. We'll have mimosas."

Death barked a brief laugh, and they looked at each other in surprise. "I have not laughed in centuries," he told her. "Believe it or not, if I allow myself, I am capable of understanding emotions, perhaps even feeling a couple of them. I actually do understand the type of love that you and Castiel have for each other. I simply think it is folly."

Gail smiled. "It probably is. But it's the most wonderful folly there's ever been."

He gave her a brief nod. "Then I will leave you to it."

And then everything went black.


	5. Get Off Of My Cloud

Chapter 5 - Get Off Of My Cloud

Gail took a deep breath and sat up. Cas's hands were on her chest. He had been desperately trying to heal her wound before too much of her essence escaped, but he had been too late. Panicked, not knowing what else to do, he had leaned down and put his mouth on hers, as if he were kissing her. He'd inhaled her essence, just as he had Paul's, in Paris. It was the strangest, scariest, most intimate experience he had ever had. Part of him became Gail. He could feel the stone bench underneath him as she had her strange conversation with Death. Castiel recognized the location as Limbo, because, unlike Gail, he had been there before. That had given him hope. Limbo was a way station, a parking lot of sorts for souls whose disposition was unclear. Just the fact that Death had brought her there instead of someplace more finite made Cas hope that she could return to him.

But it was scary, because he had no control. Like Gail, Cas was extremely puzzled as to the purpose of this meeting. However, unlike Gail, Castiel thought he understood a bit more about what Death was trying to say, as well as what he was being very careful not to say. Death had been speaking very enigmatically, using what Sam or Dean might have called "AngelSpeak" to attempt to convey information to Gail within the parameters of what he was allowed to disclose. Of course poor Gail had been confused; she didn't have nearly as much experience with that manner of communicating as Castiel did.

So, Cas had been able to decode more parts of their conversation than Gail had. He believed that Death had been trying to say that they would never live their lives without peril. Castiel had known that this was a silly fantasy, but a part of him had still had it, anyway. He dreamed of a world where none of them ever had to put their lives on the line, let alone having to do it every single day. He wanted an eternity with Gail, where they could travel the world and spend their days and nights together, exploring the Earth and each other, mentally, spiritually, and physically. Now that she was inside of him, Cas felt that he understood her better, and he was eager to talk to her about the experience. If he thought he had loved her before, Cas had had no idea how deep his feelings for her could be. Now that he had essentially been her for a few minutes, he had seen how truly perfect she was. And she had no idea. But Death had been right; once Gail had thrown in with Castiel, she had accepted untold centuries of heartache and pain. But with those things also came boundless love. Death claimed he understood that, but how could a dried-up old fossil like him ever understand the feelings of warmth Cas got when he looked at Gail, or when she took his hand? Those times that they made eye contact and knew exactly what the other was thinking. When they laughed together, and even when they cried together. And when their bodies were joined together intimately and they were speaking words of love to each other, Cas knew that was the epitome of true happiness.

Death had said that the acquisition of all of the Tablets would still not be the end, and that fact had not particularly surprised either Cas or Gail. There was always a catch, always something else that was required. And it was usually something onerous, to say the least. Look at how many sacrifices had been made to accomplish the cure, culminating with the return of the scourge that was Rowena to the Earth. That little deed was bound to have repercussions in the future. And the acquisition of the Tablets thus far had not exactly been a picnic. Castiel had been forced to visit the ancient plagues of Egypt upon the people there, resulting in many deaths. He wasn't sure if he would ever quite get over that. When they had been studying and analyzing the Book of Revelation after Lucifer had first escaped the cage, they had been discussing various scenarios in which Lucifer could potentially rain down death and tragedy on the human race. But, realistically, it had been Castiel who had done that. The Devil wasn't the only one who had used humans as pawns in a game of chess on a much bigger board. It hurt Cas's heart to think of it like that, but it was true. At least the members of Les Rebelles Blancs that he had murdered had been reprehensible people, a danger to other humans. But many innocent people had suffered and died in Egypt, and their blood was on Castiel's hands. He had vowed back then that they would never release a single plague upon the Earth, back when their talk about Revelation had been an intellectual exercise only. That kind of heinous act was reserved for evil entities, like Lucifer, or Crowley. But it was Castiel who had been the Angel of Death on that occasion, he realized with horror, not the so-called "bad guys".

It had been Lucifer's evil spell that had been the catalyst for Gail's suicide, but her meeting with Death had not been without its benefits. And perhaps that had been the object all along. Death had hinted broadly that if she wanted to find out about her blood relatives, Gail needed to talk to Oliver. Now, what had happened at Quinn's house made sense. Oliver must be trapped in his house, unable to move on, because he had knowledge that he had to impart to Gail about her birth family. And there had also been something to do with a book. They would have to find out more details about that, at some point.

It was all interesting, to be sure, and he and Gail would have to talk about it at length after they'd dealt with Lucifer. Did she have an interest in finding out who her birth parents were? Were there any blood relatives of hers who were still alive? Castiel had not forgotten that Gail had had special abilities when they had first met, and she had been a human then. Admittedly, Cas was extremely biased, but she had obviously been special from birth. Death had alluded to Gail's and Oliver's blood being "similar". Had he been attempting to suggest that the two were related by blood? If so, it could certainly explain the fact that Gail had had psychic abilities as a human, and the additional fact that she still had strong intuitions now, even after Castiel had siphoned all of her powers out of her. Maybe that would also help to explain why she'd had such strong feelings about Oliver when she'd first met him. They'd had a very contentious relationship when she and Cas had had their disease, and that was understandable to a certain extent, considering what a monster Castiel had been at the time. But there had been more to it than that, from Gail's point of view. She'd had a strong feeling of aversion when she'd had to deal with Oliver in life, yet a piece of her heart had been broken when he'd died. She and Cas had never really talked about it, because they never seemed to have much time to converse about such things, but he knew that now, from having had Gail inside of him. Could she have sensed on some level that she and Oliver had been related in some way? Perhaps that could explain the strong feelings she'd had towards a man she didn't even know.

But Cas's mind was wandering now, and they had to deal with the most pressing issue of the moment, which was getting Lucifer out of Heaven. Death had been vague and enigmatic about other things he had said, but about that, he had been very specific, and also very helpful. They were to take the Heaven Tablet to Metatron on the movie set in Mongolia, and he would help them to kick Lucifer out of Heaven. Then, once that was done, they would resume their efforts to get the Tablets, and once they had the other two, they would concentrate on getting the last piece of the puzzle from Luke, one way or the other. Castiel disliked Death, but he was gratified to realize that Death was helping them, in his fashion. But his method of communication was certainly nerve-wracking. Cas couldn't help but smile when he recalled what Gail had said to Death about having him over for brunch. Such a thing was unthinkable, of course, but her comments had been amusing. She had even made Death laugh, a feat that Castiel would have heretofore deemed to be impossible. It would appear that even Death loved Gail, inasmuch as he was capable of feeling love for anyone. Castiel didn't know how comfortable he was with that notion, but it was certainly preferable to the alternative. If Death looked upon her favourably, there might come a time when that would prove to be beneficial to them.

Cas put his mouth on Gail's and breathed her essence back into her vessel. He had never enjoyed the process more, he thought with amusement, relieved that she was going to be all right. Once he was done, he took his mouth away from hers, looking closely at her face. "Are you all right, Gail?" he asked her.

She was dazed. What a weird experience that had been. "I think so, Cas," she told him.

"Is she cured now?" Frank asked, but Cas held up a hand. "Just a minute, Frank," he said. "She's just had a traumatizing experience."

"I had a one-on-one conversation with Death," Gail said to Frank. He gave her a very Deanlike double-take, and Gail smiled wryly. "I know, right?" she said.

"How is the dried-up old douchebag?" Dean asked sardonically.

Gail shrugged. "Just about as you'd expect," she replied.

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me with this," Frank said, looking at them all incredulously. "You guys all know Death personally?"

Cas nodded. "Yes, Frank. It comes with the territory," he said with a grim smile.

Frank threw up his hands. "Well, isn't that just fantastic," he said, his voice heavy with sarcasm. It was bad enough that Crowley was Cas's brother; now they were telling him that Death was a friend of the family, too? Well, there was no way those guys were going on Frank's Christmas list. He could only imagine having Death over for Christmas dinner. Gail wouldn't even need to shop for a turkey; they could just bring a live one and have their guest touch it. What did one get Death for Christmas, exactly? And what could he get you? An extra hour of life wrapped up with a bow, maybe?

"He told me what we have to do to get Lucifer out of Heaven," Gail said to her friends. "We have to take the Heaven Tablet to Metatron, and he'll help us."

Wow, thought Sam. So this was what they were reduced to. Accepting help from Metatron, of all people.

"We'll leave first thing in the morning," Cas said thoughtfully. He looked at Gail, then extended his arms to her. "Are you OK to get up now, do you think?"

"I'm fine, Cas," she replied. "In fact, I feel great. Just glad to be alive, I guess." She let him help her stand, and then she looked around the room at everyone. "I'm really sorry for my behaviour," she told them.

"Just remember that, when I hand you the bill for my kneecap replacement," Frank grumbled.

Gail strode over to her brother. "I'm sorry, Frank. I couldn't help it." She put her hand on his arm. "I just wanted to get away from you so badly that Death seemed the more attractive alternative."

Frank started to smile. "Good one, kiddo," he said, giving her a big hug.

Riley was looking at the two of them, puzzled. Were they joking?

Jody saw the look on the young Angel's face and took pity on him. "For those of you who are new to our weird little family, Frank is telling his sister that he's glad she's all right, and she's telling him that she loves him very, very much," she said dryly.

Everyone laughed, even Chuck and Ethan. Ethan had been glad to have been called upon to provide a service for Heaven in the form of healing Sam. He still felt the heavy weight of guilt upon his shoulders, but if what Gail was saying was true and they had a way to oust Lucifer from Heaven, hopefully that burden could be eased, if they were successful. He would talk to Bobby privately after that happened and offer Bobby his resignation, and his apologies.

And Chuck was starting to feel a little better too, a little more like himself. Now that he'd been away from the noxious spell of Rowena's hex bag for a while, he wasn't feeling hatred for Cas anymore. Chuck had been horrified when Gail had stabbed herself, but once again, Cas had saved the day, and all was right with the world again. So Metatron was going to help them with Lucifer, was he? What a weird concept. Metatron had told Chuck and Cas and Gail that he would help them fight Lucifer when they had seen Metatron in Egypt, but at the time, Chuck was unsure if the former Scribe was actually sincere, or if he had just been trying to save his hide. But if Chuck could reform himself, he supposed there was hope for anyone, even someone as horrible as Metatron.

"Can we come with?" Sam asked Cas. "If he'll do it, I want to be looking over his shoulder when he translates the Tablet. The more I can learn about the language, the better."

Kevin perked up then. He looked at Bobby, who nodded. "Yeah, you'd better go too, Kevin," Bobby told the young Prophet. "Whatever you guys can learn, it'll probably help us down the road." Then he looked around at the others. "But that's it, OK? I'm hoping this will just be a quick side trip. The rest of us will stay here, and once Lucifer's ass is out of that chair, we'll go to Romania. Agreed?" He looked at everyone again, then at Cas, who frowned momentarily.

"Problem, Cas?" Bobby asked him calmly.

Cas sighed inwardly. "No, Bobby. No problem." He looked at Dean. "We'll be here early tomorrow morning to collect you." He extended his hand to Gail, and the two of them winked out of the bunker.

They went to their house, and Gail immediately waved her hand over the clothes she was wearing to clean them. She looked at Cas. "It's a good thing this talent of mine both cleans bloodstains and repairs clothes," she said to him. Then she smiled. "Hey, I should do a commercial. Golden Essence, now at a supermarket near you."

Cas was leaning against the door jamb of the bedroom, smiling at her. What she'd said was amusing, but he was mainly smiling because he was so glad that she was all right. As she continued to bustle around the room, unpacking from the brief trip they'd been on, he continued to watch her, smiling all the while.

"Do you think we'll need to pack any clothes?" she asked him, hesitating at the bureau. "Maybe not. I guess we're hoping this'll just be a one-day thing. Right?" He didn't answer, so she looked at him again. He was still smiling at her. "What?" she asked, curious. She didn't think what she'd said about the commercial was that funny, really.

"You were inside of me," Cas said to her. "I wish I could express to you in words how wonderful that was." He approached her. "I have never felt closer to you, or loved you more," he told her, putting his arms around her. "We were the same person, Gail. For a few minutes, I felt what you felt. Your hopes, your fears, your love...I understood everything, from your point of view. It was scary, but it was exciting, too."

"Good. Then maybe you'll take out the trash the next time I ask you to," she quipped.

"I understood why you just said that," Cas told her. "You make jokes when you feel uneasy. But why on earth would you ever be uneasy about something like that? I never thought that I could love you even more, but now I do, because I understand you, Gail. If you could only realize how special you are, how perfect..." He lost his words.

Tears prickled at Gail's eyes. He really meant what he was saying. He was so sweet. Her mouth felt dry. She couldn't make any more quips now. So she did the only thing that she could do. She kissed him.

"You are the sweetest person I've ever met," she told him softly. "And since you understand me so well, you will also understand why I love you as much as I do. It's because I know the real you. You're not a screw-up, or a Demon, or a killer. You're the finest Angel in Heaven, and the most wonderful man in this or any other universe. The next time you start to doubt who you really are, try to look at yourself through my eyes."

Now Cas's eyes started to blur with tears. "I love you so much," he said to her. His voice was thick with emotion. "Your love and your support means everything to me. I'm very lucky that Death brought you back to me, because I would truly not be able to go on living without you."

"Well, don't worry about it, because I don't plan on going anywhere for a long, long time," she told him. Then she smiled. "Have you still got my bra in your pocket?"

His forehead wrinkled. "I guess I do," he replied. "Why?"

"Care to add to the collection?" she said mischievously.

Cas smiled. "I believe that I would," he said. He kissed her, opening her mouth with his tongue. He took off her clothes and laid her down on the bed, caressing her skin lightly. Then he knelt over her and took off his shirt. She reached out and stroked the front of his pants with her fingertips, and he breathed in sharply.

"I guess now that you understand me so well, you won't be asking me what I need anymore," Gail said.

Cas smiled again. "I could ask you that, but I already know," he told her. He took off his pants, lifting her off the bed and onto him. He pushed forward, into her. "This is what you wanted, isn't it?" he asked her in a low voice.

"It's what I always want," Gail replied, smiling. God, he was sexy. He sped up his motion, pushing forward aggressively. She embraced him tightly, going with the motion. He no longer had to ask her if he was hurting her, because he knew that he was not. Cas knew just the right technique to use with her now.

She wrapped her legs around his waist as he continued to move in and out of her. "I love you, Cas," she said into his ear. He moaned, then he pushed forward once more, hard. "Oh," she said, surprised. This was the most aggressive he had ever been with her outside of the Demon days, but it felt good. Almost as if he were scratching an itch she didn't even know she had. He moaned again, low, and then he was still.

She was caressing his back and kissing his face. "That was good, Cas," she told him.

"I agree," he said softly. "And it was just the beginning. We have all night. I know that you'd like to talk about your conversation with Death, and we will, I assure you. But right now, I just want to celebrate the fact that you're alive, and I want to love you as you deserve. Will you let me do that?"

Gail smiled again. He was unbelievable. "Let him", indeed. He eased her back down until her head was laying on the pillows, and then he moved down her body, trailing his tongue along her skin. He flicked his tongue on her breasts, teasing the nipples. Then he kept moving down and kissed her stomach, licking her belly button. That always made her giggle. It tickled, but she kind of liked it, too. He caressed her hips and nuzzled her thighs with his cheek, kissing them. He put his hand in-between her legs and she opened them eagerly. She watched him making love to her with his tongue, and she started to whimper. "I love you so much, Cas," she said, and he smiled, then sped up what he was doing. She cried out, closing her eyes and lifting her hips up to meet his mouth. He continued to make love to her, because he knew from experience that she would frequently crest, then recede, then crest again. Sometimes this would happen several times before she was finally still. It was funny how men and women seemed to be different in that regard. But he was glad that was the way she was, because it gave him an excuse to linger. He wished he could properly express to her how happy it made him to be able to be giving her this much pleasure.

When she was eventually still, Cas climbed on top of her and held her, letting her get her breath back. "Cas, that was..." she started to say, but she had no words. Nothing that was good enough to express to him how he made her feel. But he understood. "Yes, it certainly was," he told her softly, gently kissing her face. "I love you, Gail," he added, and incredibly, his hands were caressing her body again. "Let's enjoy being together once more, and then we'll talk. Is that all right?"

It was more than all right, Gail thought. It was amazing the way she felt when they were making love. She never wanted it to end, and in a lot of ways, it never did. The instant they were done, she felt excited again as soon as he touched her or kissed her. He was doing both now, teasing her lips with his tongue. He took her hand and put it on himself, and she was happy that he wasn't being reticent about doing that. Now that Cas had had her essence inside of him, he knew how important it was to her to make him feel as good as he always made her feel. She was moving her hand up and down, caressing him, and he was smiling.

"Lay on your back for me," she said to him and he did so, without protest. She wanted to give him the same feeling that he had given her a few minutes ago, and he wasn't going to argue with her. She needed to be able to express her love for him just as much as he needed to be able to express his love for her. Now that he understood her better, he couldn't deny her that need. As long as they were both happy when they were done. It did not matter what mode of transportation they took, as long as they arrived at their destination together. Cas smiled at that thought. He would have to remember to say that to her later. She would probably like it.

But right now, he couldn't speak at all. She was making him feel so wonderful that he was unable to talk. All he could do was move with her and say her name.

Gail continued to make love to him with her mouth and her tongue. Cas was moaning now, and she knew that he was only a moment away. But she wanted to delay his pleasure, because she knew it would feel even better the longer he was able to wait. So she took her mouth away from him for a moment and began to kiss his abdomen. She could feel his muscles there contract, and he said her name. She teased him with her fingertips for another moment, then she touched her tongue to him. "Gail, please," he said softly, and she took him in her mouth again. "I love you!" he exclaimed, and she opened her mouth wider to take him all in. He shouted in pure joy, and she smiled. She was happy to be making him feel so good, and it was wonderful to hear him expressing himself so freely. She guessed that maybe he did understand her a little better now. His behaviour would seem to indicate that he did, anyway. She felt closer to him now than she ever had before.

When he was still, she moved back up and lay her head on his chest, listening to the sound of his heartbeat. Then she raised herself up to look at his face. He was smiling, and he took her hand and placed it on his chest where his heart was. Then, once he had his breath back, he brought her hand to his lips and kissed it softly. He kissed each knuckle, and then she took that hand away and gave him her other one. "This one's getting jealous," she told him, and he laughed, and then did the same thing with her other hand. He looked at the rings on her finger, remembering the day he had bought her engagement ring with Sam and Dean, and their wedding day. The most glorious day of his entire existence.

"I wish we could get married again," Cas blurted out.

Gail smiled. "Why?" she asked him, curious. She thought she might already know, though, because she knew him so well.

"Because that day went by so quickly," he told her. "It was the most wonderful day - and night - of my existence. If I could, I would marry you over and over and over again."

She was touched. "That's sweet, Cas. I'll tell you what. Depending on how busy we are, maybe we could renew our vows every few years."

He brightened. "I had not thought of that. Maybe we could get married in different locations, all over the world," he remarked. "Once we lock Lucifer away for good, I'll look into that. It might be fun to study some of the traditions and the wedding garb in various countries."

"You're unbelievable," she told him, still smiling. "It's amazing how you can be so romantic and yet so manly at the same time."

"Dean would call me a woman," Cas said, answering her smile.

"Well then, maybe we'll have you wear the gown next time," she teased. "But in the meantime, I wouldn't mind seeing your manly side once more, if you feel up to it."

"Of course," he replied. "Stay where you are, please." He rose up and moved behind her. Now that Cas had his new understanding, he knew that she no longer associated anything he did to her in the bedroom with the Demon, and he also knew that she liked a little variety, but she was too shy to make the requests. That was all right, though. As the man, it was his responsibility to discover what she liked, and to provide her with it. It warmed his heart to know that she had truly forgiven him for that dark time, and that she knew he would not hurt her in any way even if he was being a little aggressive. In fact, much of the time she liked it when he was aggressive, because she trusted him to know the difference.

He moved her gently into position and she knew what he had in mind, so she leaned forward in order to make it easier for him. He eased gently into her, but once he was in, he started to push harder. He put his arms around her, one hand massaging her breasts and the other stroking her in-between her legs. He leaned forward for closer contact, and also so that he could speak softly into her ear. He told her how much he loved her, and then he licked her ear, because he knew she liked that. She rewarded him by saying, "Cas, that's so good," so he pushed harder into her, and she cried out. His fingers sped up to match his body's forward motion, and she was gone now, beyond words. It was a good thing that he was hanging onto her because she was crying out in ecstasy, having totally given herself over to him. He cradled her, moving his body in time with hers. As soon as she began to cry out, so did he, and when they were both still, he laid them both down gently and spooned her, holding her tightly.

He kissed her neck, and her ear, and licked her shoulder. She was still short of breath, but that made her giggle. Just when she thought that Cas couldn't surprise her anymore, he would come up with something like that. "I love feeling your tongue on my body," she told him shyly. "Anywhere on my body."

"Good, because it will be on your body for as long and as often as you need it to be," he answered her, smiling.

Gail sighed contentedly. God, he was killing her. "You have to be the sexiest man alive," she said, wiggling against his body.

"I'm glad you think so," Cas said in her ear. He was talking in a low voice now. Oh, he knew exactly what he sounded like when he did that, she thought. He continued, "But you will have to stop moving like that, or we will never get to have our conversation." She could hear the smile in his voice now.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you that conversation is highly overrated?" she said teasingly, and she wiggled again. Cas made a low noise in her ear, and then he moved her body around so that she was facing him.

"I love you so much, my darling," he told her.

"Hey, what happened to 'my love'?" she asked him, smiling.

"Do you like that better?" he inquired.

"I like it all, Cas," she told him softly. "As long as it's said with love, you can call me whatever you want to."

"I'm very happy to call you my wife," he said, kissing her gently on the lips.

Gail smiled again. "Does it still make you hot when I call you my husband?"

His lips twitched. "Why don't you try it and find out?" he asked her.

"I love you, my husband," she said, her eyes sparkling.

Then his lips came down on hers, and his tongue was in her mouth, and a minute later, they were making love again.

Cas's cell phone rang in the morning, and it was Sam on the other end.

"What is it, Sam?" Cas asked his friend in a mild tone. "I was just about to get in the shower." He looked at Gail and winked. Angels weren't really supposed to lie, but that had been more of a fib, really. They had made love for half the night and conversed for the other half, and Cas had been just about to ask Gail if she needed him one more time before he went in to take his shower.

"I was online, looking up the weather in Mongolia, and I thought I'd better let you guys know what I found out," Sam said to him. "I thought since we were going to the edge of the Gobi Desert, that it would be warm there, like Egypt. Turns out it's quite the opposite. It'll be minus seven degrees Celsius, at its warmest, and the forecast calls for light snow."

"Celsius," Dean grumped in the background. "Whatever the hell that means."

Cas smiled. "Tell Dean to ask Nicole," he said to Sam. "Canadians use the metric system, too. Most of the civilized world does, in fact."

Sam grinned. "I'll make sure to point out to Dean how uncivilized he is," he said. "But I just thought I'd give you the heads-up, so you can dress accordingly. I know that Gail likes cooler weather, but we don't want her to freeze."

"Thank you, Sam," Cas said into the phone. "We'll see you shortly." He hung up and turned to Gail, telling her what Sam had said.

"Yayyy," she said, smiling. "Finally, a climate I can really enjoy."

"We'll have to get you some warmer clothing," Cas mused.

"I have a few sweaters," she told him. "I'll be fine for now. Maybe I'll get a winter coat in Romania when we go."

He sighed. "I wish we have a better reason to be visiting these exotic locales. I can't wait for the day when we can go somewhere strictly as tourists."

"Me neither," she told him. "Now kiss me, and I'll hop in the shower."

Cas gave her a long, intimate kiss, and then she got out of bed and walked to the bathroom. A minute later, Cas heard the water running, and then he heard Gail humming a tune. A moment later, she was singing. He smiled. He'd never heard her do that before. She had a lovely voice; he would have to encourage her to sing more often.

When she'd finished her shower and come back into the bedroom to dress, Cas complimented her on her voice. "You sing beautifully. Just like...well, just like an Angel," he told her, smiling widely.

Gail was embarrassed. She didn't even realize she'd been singing. "You're just being kind," she said, kissing him on the cheek. "Go take your shower. You can sing for me, if you want."

His lips twitched. "I'm not sure you would want me to do that. Besides, all I know are old-fashioned love ballads, and Christmas carols. I should probably get you and Sam and Dean to teach me some modern songs."

"OK, I have a couple of things to say about that," she said, touching his face. "First, I'm very glad to hear that you know some Christmas songs, because we are totally having a singalong at Christmastime."

Cas smiled. "I don't know how successful you'll be in persuading some of our friends to sing." He was picturing a showdown between Gail and Dean over the subject. Cas was pretty sure who he would bet on to be the victor of that contest.

She grinned. "I know exactly who you're talking about, and I already have a plan for that. No song, no turkey."

Cas laughed. "I think that should work." He started towards the bathroom and then he stopped, turning around. "And what was the other thing you wanted to say?" he asked, curious.

She pretended to frown. "You've been holding out on me. If you don't sing me an old-fashioned love song the next time we go to bed, you're never seeing me naked again."

He looked at her for a moment, and the expression on his face was so comical that she burst out laughing. "I love you, Cas," Gail said. He smiled and headed off to the bathroom.

Cas hung up his cell phone and looked at Dean. "Have you got the Tablet?"

Dean hefted the case. "Yep. Right here."

Cas turned to Bobby. "We'll be going now. I hope to have us back by this evening, depending on how long the translation takes, of course."

Bobby nodded. "Fine. We'll get Tommy to do some more research on Romania, and we'll plan on leaving tomorrow, if you get everything wrapped up today. And Cas, if you do manage to get Lucifer out of Heaven, I'd appreciate it if you could check on Patricia for me." There had been no information forthcoming about Bobby's lady friend, and he was concerned for her. When Lucifer had kicked Bobby out of God's office, Patricia had been left alone with Satan. Hopefully, he'd been all bark and no bite. Cas did not say anything to Bobby about what Crowley had said regarding Lucifer and what he may or may not have done to Patricia. There was no way to verify the possible truth of what the King of Hell had said, and there was no point in upsetting Bobby unnecessarily.

"Yes, we'll do that, Bobby," Cas agreed. "I hope this works; I really do."

"I just hope that Metatron's sincere about wanting to help us," Sam said. "If you had asked me, among all of the people we know, who would be the most likely person to help us with Lucifer, he wouldn't have even cracked the top twenty."

"I know," Dean agreed. "And I still don't trust the little douchebag. What if he's just screwing with us?"

Cas was thoughtful. "I don't think he is, Dean." Then he smiled grimly. "But then again, he's fooled me before. Don't worry. He knows that this is his last chance. We all have weapons, and Gail and I have our powers. I think we'll be fine. But we have to try this. The longer Lucifer is allowed to remain in Heaven, the more dangerous it is for everyone."

Gail took Cas's hand, he took Sam's, and Kevin took Dean's. And then they were gone.

"It really is brisk here, isn't it?" Gail said, pulling her jacket tighter around her. She'd gone with a light jacket over her top, but now she was thinking that she should have worn another layer.

"You gonna be all right?" Dean asked her, bemused. "I hope you're not one of those people who says they like it colder and then complains when it's colder."

"Are you kidding? I'm loving this!" she told him. They were standing outside the tent where Metatron had set up an erstwhile writers' office.

When they had first arrived, Cas had winked the group directly into Metatron's tent. He had been expecting them, and he had already cleared off the table to prepare room for the examination of the Tablet. Their greetings were stiff and formal, understandably so. After all, Metatron had killed almost all of them at one time or another. But he truly had turned over a new leaf now, and he wanted to prove that by helping them. And Lucifer sitting in God's office offended Metatron. Metatron may have been a reprehensible individual himself, but he knew deep down in his heart of hearts that Lucifer was much, much worse. And now that he had a home on Earth, and had found his true calling as a writer, Metatron didn't want Lucifer messing with the status quo.

Dean had hefted the case up to the table and opened it, taking the Tablet out. Metatron gasped. This was the real deal, all right. He could feel the aura of goodness radiating from the stone. Dean moved to place it on the table, but Cas put his hand on his friend's arm, stopping him.

"Hand it to Metatron," Cas said quietly. Dean looked at him quizzically, but he did. Metatron winced inwardly as he took the heavy stone Tablet in his hands. This would be the litmus test, right here. If he was still an evil entity, the mere touch of the Heaven Tablet to his skin would probably reduce him to ashes where he stood.

Castiel knew that too, of course. He remembered when he had not been able to touch the Purgatory Tablet in Paris. Then he had asked Paul to do it, but Paul could not, either. Yet Etienne had been able to pick it up. Cas had now come to the conclusion that the realm that each Tablet represented matched up with the individual who was looking to handle it. Since Purgatory was a realm for monsters, only a monster could touch that Tablet. In the case of the Heaven Tablet, both Cas and Gail had been able to touch it when they'd acquired it, because they were beings who were innately good. The same went for Dean. Cas had wanted to see if Metatron was able to handle it. If so, that would be their proof that his intent was sincere, and that he had truly changed.

As Metatron continued to hold the Tablet, he let out a sigh of relief when nothing happened. He made eye contact with Castiel, who gave him a brief nod of acknowledgement. While Cas would never be able to fully trust Metatron, the Tablet seemed to believe that his intentions were pure. Metatron gently lowered the Tablet onto the table, and then he did something remarkable. He leaned down and kissed it gently. "I'm sorry, Father," he said softly. "I'm so sorry for everything I became. Please help me to help them now. Your will."

Then he looked up. "Have a seat, everyone. Can I get anybody anything?"

It was so strange. Metatron, the genial host of their little party. They all exchanged uncomfortable glances. "Kevin and I were hoping you would show us how to translate what you're seeing," Sam said stiffly.

"Sure, Sam," Metatron said expansively. "Have a seat. I'll call for some coffee. It's really strong here, but it's good. I think you'll like it."

Dean felt sick to his stomach. They were supposed to sit down and have coffee with the little son of a bitch? Then, what next? They'd do lunch, maybe? It was bad enough he had to look at Crowley practically every time he turned around. Metatron had driven a knife into Dean's chest, and he had killed the crap out of Gail in Las Vegas. He looked at her. She was looking the same way he felt. Dean strode over to Gail and grabbed her by the hand. "We'll be outside," he barked, and he exited the tent, pulling her with him.

Cas stared after them. He understood Dean's anger, and he appreciated his friend being angry on Gail's behalf, as well. Cas didn't seriously think that Metatron posed a threat to Gail now, but he had not forgotten Las Vegas either, of course. It had been one of Metatron's worst crimes, as far as Cas was concerned. If they didn't need Metatron's help with Lucifer, this meeting might be going quite differently. But Cas couldn't afford to inject his own personal feelings towards Metatron into the proceedings right now. Taking care of Lucifer was their Number One priority. So even though Cas took a step to go after Gail and Dean, ultimately, he did not follow them. Dean would take good care of her, and Cas needed to stay here to make sure that Metatron was cooperating.

Gail and Dean had been standing outside for a few minutes now, and Dean was only now starting to cool off. "Can you believe that asshat?" he fumed to Gail. "After all the crap he pulled on all of us, he's sitting around, making tons of money writing for a movie, acting like he's the King of the World. Unbelievable."

Gail nodded. "I know. Believe me, I know what you mean. But whether we like it or not, we need him right now. We don't have Crowley anymore for the ancient language, and Cas can only translate bits and pieces."

Dean looked at her. "What happened with Crowley, anyway? When Frank and I went to see him, he was douchier than usual."

She was bemused. "'Douchier'?" she repeated. "Is that even a word?" Dean smirked. "When did you and Frank go to see him?" she asked.

"Shortly after you and Cas took off," he replied. "We figured there was something fishy going on, and since he was the last one we knew of who was with you guys, we were hoping he would tell us what happened with Lucifer." He smiled grimly. "But the little troll lied his face off. He said that Cas just lost it, out of the blue, saying he was done with everything. He never mentioned anything about any deals."

Gail laughed shortly. "That figures. He stabbed us in the back, Dean, pure and simple. I don't think we'll be able to count on him for anything anymore."

Dean gave a half-shrug. "I'm actually surprised that he was so cooperative for so long. No big loss."

Gail frowned. She didn't necessarily agree. Crowley had a wealth of information, and he was also the only one of them with the power of revival. Yes, he was the King of Hell, but..."Yeah, and look who we're having to deal with now," she remarked. "Not exactly a step up."

They were silent for a moment. A light snow had begun to fall, and Gail stuck her palm out, trying to catch a snowflake.

Dean let out a breath. "I'm sorry, Gail. I owe you an apology. I never should have said what I said to you back at the bunker. You know I don't think that of you, right?"

She looked at him. "Yeah, I know, Dean." She sighed. "That whole thing was just so messed up. The next time I see Cas extending his hand to Lucifer for a shake, I'm gonna smack it right off of him." Then she pointed a finger at Dean. "And as for you, it's been entirely too long since I hit you in the face. If you ever call me that word again, I'll have to dust off my smacking hand again."

He smiled. "Fair enough. Hug it out?"

Gail nodded, and she and Dean embraced.

"Oh my God, there he is!" they heard a girl call out.

Gail and Dean came out of their embrace and looked over in the direction the voice had come from. There were wire mesh fences all around the perimeter of the movie set, and they saw a group of girls standing behind the fence, looking in their direction.

Gail smirked at Dean. "They obviously think you're the actor who plays you in the movie," she said to him.

"Aw, geez," he said, rolling his eyes. "We're in the Gobi Desert, and there are fans here, too?"

"You'd be amazed," she told him. "They have fans all over the world, literally. I did a bit of research on the subject. The TV show was popular enough, but this movie franchise is going to be huge, I'm sure."

"Yes, it is," Nicole said. She walked up to the two of them, smiling. "It's good to see you guys. To what do we owe the pleasure?"

Gail and Dean exchanged glances, unsure of how much they should share. Metatron had a job scriptwriting for these people. The humans had no idea who or what he truly was, nor would they have any idea about the dark and checkered history the Angels and the Winchesters had with him. If he really was turning over a new leaf, it probably wouldn't do to let any of that get out. Nor did they necessarily want to disclose the fact that Lucifer was currently running the show in Heaven.

"Is there any filming going on right now?" Gail asked Nicole, trying to change the subject.

"Yeah, they're just setting up right now, actually," Nicole replied, looking around. "Where are Cas and Sam?"

"Oh, didn't we tell you?" Dean deadpanned. "Cas and Gail got a divorce, and he and Sammy are a couple now."

Nicole looked at him. "You think you're pretty funny, don't you?"

Dean nodded. "Yeah, pretty much."

She rolled her eyes. "Seriously, where's Cas?" she asked Gail. "Everybody would love to see him."

Gail made a face. "He's kind of on some confidential business for Heaven right now. I'm sorry, but I can't really say."

Nicole looked at her for a minute, and then she shrugged. "OK. I get it. Do you guys want to watch the filming?"

Gail gave a half-glance back to the tent. "You guys go ahead. I'll catch up," she told them. She didn't want Cas to peek out of the tent, not see her, and freak out.

Dean took Nicole's hand, and she looked at him in surprise. "I missed you," he told her, and she waited for the wisecrack to follow, but there was none. "It's good to see you, Dean," Nicole responded.

They started to walk away, and Gail ducked back into the tent. The men were studying the Tablet intently, discussing the verbiage of the clause that Metatron was pointing to.

"It refers to the banishment of evil from Heaven, does it not?" Castiel was saying.

"Yeah, that's what I thought, too," Kevin said, nodding his head.

"You need two secrets to be told, while holding blessed sticks of gold," Metatron said aloud.

Sam was shaking his head. "You've got to be kidding us with this," he said scornfully.

Metatron eyed him calmly. "I get that you don't like me, Sam, but I can assure you, I'm serious. That's what it says."

"Sounds like Disney, or something," Sam said, rolling his eyes.

"Hey, I didn't write it, I'm just translating it," Metatron said, shrugging. "If I had written it, I promise you, it wouldn't rhyme. That is so cheesy."

"'Blessed sticks of gold'. Our candlesticks," Gail remarked.

The men looked up from the Tablet. "Yes," Cas said, smiling. But then he frowned. "Two secrets?"

"Yes, Castiel," Metatron said absently. He was scanning the passage again. "Two Angels...holding the objects...standing at opposite ends of Heaven. Confess their secrets to the objects simultaneously, and then the Devil can be driven out by two Original Angels."

Sam smiled, despite himself. "Sort of like: 'tell the truth and shame the Devil'."

"Exactly," Metatron said, sitting back in his chair.

"But if you didn't write these Tablets, who did?" Castiel asked him, puzzled.

Metatron shrugged again. "I have no idea. I guess our Father was seeing another Scribe on the side." He was being flippant, but the fact that there were a series of Tablets that he had known nothing about and had had nothing to do with perturbed him. Who had transcribed these Tablets, and why had God not used Metatron for the job?

"Maybe Luke wrote them?" Kevin suggested.

"Luke? As in, Gospel writer Luke?" Metatron said sharply.

Kevin looked at Cas guiltily. Should he not have mentioned Luke's name?

Castiel wasn't sure who should know what, anymore. They were certainly not going to have much trouble coming up with a couple of secrets when the time came. So he simply shrugged. He supposed it didn't really matter. Either they could rely on Metatron, or they couldn't. Only time would tell on that score. "Yes, that Luke," Cas confirmed.

Metatron was thoughtful. "I suppose this could be the work of a Gospel writer," he mused.

Now Gail rolled her eyes. Rhyming couplets? She hated to agree with Metatron, but she thought that was pretty cheesy, herself.

"Well, that's it, then," Cas said. "We'll give the candlesticks to two of the designates, and then Gail and I will drive Lucifer out. I assume the telling of the secrets will somehow make him vulnerable enough to be expelled."

"I'm glad I was able to help," Metatron told them. "But there's a lot more here, Castiel. Why don't you leave it here with me, and I'll study it between rewrites?"

"No," Cas said shortly.

Metatron sighed. He supposed he couldn't blame Cas for his reaction. "OK, I'll tell you what. How about if I just translate what I can in the next couple of hours, then?"

Cas nodded. "Yes, all right. That would be acceptable." He looked at Gail. "We'll visit with our friends and watch the filming for a while."

Sam looked at him. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" Sam rose from the table and took Cas's arm, steering him outside. "You're just going to leave the Tablet here with him?" Sam asked Cas. "How do you know we can trust him with it?"

Cas thought about that for a moment. Sam was right, of course. What was to stop Metatron from destroying it, or simply taking it? He frowned. "You're right, Sam. I suppose I'll have to stay here and guard him, then." He was disappointed. He'd really wanted to see his show friends.

They went back inside, and Cas touched Gail's arm. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to stay here," he told her. "Why don't you go? Give everyone my regards and tell them I'll try to pop by in a while. So to speak." He flashed her a quick smile.

"OK, Cas," she said. She looked at Sam and Kevin, but they both told her that they wanted to stay here and study the Tablet some more.

Gail exited the tent and walked in the direction that she'd seen Dean and Nicole going in. She passed by the fence where the girls were standing. Unbelievable. There were about fifteen or sixteen of them, all young, chatty girls.

"Are you in the movie?" one of them asked Gail. She smiled. "No."

"But you were with him! I saw you!" one of the other girls exclaimed.

"That doesn't mean she's in the movie," a third girl retorted. "She's probably just on the crew, or something."

"Still, at least she gets to hang with them, and talk to them. She was even hugging him!" the first girl wailed.

"Oh my God, Olive, you're such a Dean stan," the other girls said to her.

Gail had been in the process of walking away. Her presence wasn't really required for their conversation, she thought, amused. But she stopped now and looked back at the girls, puzzled. "She's a what?" she asked.

The girls all laughed. They explained to her what a "stan" was. She was highly amused now. Just when she'd thought she had the terminology all figured out.

Still, this might be kind of fun. She looked at all the girls' faces. Gail had their full attention now. She was on the side of the fence that they wanted to be on, and until they found out if she was anybody they needed to suck up to or not, they would be respectful.

"How many of you are Destiel?" Gail asked the girls, and two-thirds of them raised their hands. Oh, this was too funny. "Any Wincest?" Unbelievably, three hands shot up. "How many of you read fan fiction?" she asked. A unanimous show of hands. But then she got cocky. "How many of you like het fic?" Only one girl raised her hand, the "Dean stan". "And how many read Destiel?" All of the other girls raised their hands.

Gail shook her head, smirking. Well, you couldn't please all of the people all of the time, she supposed. She wondered how much she would have to pay Dean to come out here and kiss Cas, and how many of these young girls they would "kill" if they did that. But, if Gail gave Cas a sexy kiss for these same fans, they would probably get booed off the set. Huh.

One of the girls let out a frustrated breath. "Are you anybody, or not?" she asked Gail.

Gail didn't know whether she should find that funny. "That's an excellent question," she said, with just the right degree of sarcasm. "Very existential, really. I'll have to ask my husband Castiel about that, and we'll get back to you."

She walked away, leaving a group of very confused young girls behind.

"You don't trust me," Metatron said to Cas.

Cas's eyebrows raised. He was kidding with this, wasn't he?

Metatron sighed, sitting back in his chair. "Yeah, OK, Castiel. I get it."

"Do you?" Cas said coldly. "Do you, really?"

"Yes, I do," Metatron insisted. "I've been through quite the journey since I got out of Hell. I've done a lot of self-analysis, and I realize I wasn't the nicest guy in the world."

Sam had decided to pour himself a cup of coffee, but he almost spit it out now. "That wins the award for the biggest understatement I've ever heard," he said, rolling his eyes.

Kevin was nodding. Admittedly, he didn't know Metatron, but he knew of him, and what Kevin had heard was all bad.

Castiel was staring daggers at Metatron. "You have been the worst sort of individual I have ever had the misfortune to meet. The only reason you continue to draw breath right now is because we need your help to defeat Lucifer."

"Where's your brother these days?" Metatron asked him suddenly.

"In Hell, where he belongs," Cas said disdainfully.

"You know we're going to need him to wrap this thing up, don't you?" Metatron said.

Castiel let out a frustrated breath. Yes, he did. They could do all the translations they wanted, and they could get their hands on the additional two Tablets, plus whatever else it was that Death had hinted about. But Castiel knew that in the final analysis, it was going to require every bit of power from all four of the other Originals to take care of Lucifer.

"Let me worry about that, when the time comes," Cas said sharply.

"You and your wife are going to have to bite the bullet, and make nice with Crowley," Metatron remarked. "Given your past relationships, I know that'll be difficult for all three of you."

Cas's frown deepened. "What do you know about it?"

"I know a lot of things, Castiel," Metatron replied casually.

Cas eyed him suspiciously. What was Metatron getting at?

"I didn't mean anything by it, Cas, I just meant...aw, forget it," Metatron said, shrugging.

Castiel continued to stare angrily at him. Metatron was actually pouting now. God give him strength. "It is my friends who call me Cas," he said, tight-lipped. "You claim you've turned over a new leaf, but I see no real evidence of that. Perhaps we are just wasting our time here." He got up and walked around to the other side of the table, preparing to take the Heaven Tablet away from Metatron.

The Scribe caught him by the wrist. "Not yet, Castiel. OK, you want proof? I'll give you some proof." He looked up at Cas's face. "As a show of good faith, I'm prepared to tell you something that will give you a tremendous advantage against your enemies." Castiel's lips pursed, but he said nothing, waiting for Metatron to continue. "Now pay attention, because this is huge: you can transcend sigils." Metatron took his hand off Cas's wrist, sitting back in his chair again. "Ta-da!"

Cas gave a short, scornful laugh. "What are you talking about? No, I can't."

"Yes, you can, Cas," Metatron insisted. "You just think you can't; therefore, you can't. But you absolutely can, if you try hard enough. If you're properly motivated, and use the discipline you were taught in Heaven, you can break through most ordinary sigils. I would practice that skill, if I were you. As long as you keep letting sigils get the best of you, they will, and Lucifer will keep on using them against you. But once you can consciously transcend them, they shouldn't be a problem for you anymore. Just make sure he doesn't know that, not until the right time comes."

Cas's eyes narrowed as he continued to stare at Metatron. Either the Scribe was lying, or he was telling the truth. Fifty-fifty. If he was lying, Cas was really no worse off at the moment. He wasn't simply going to take Metatron's word for it, of course. But what if he was telling the truth? When Cas and Gail had gotten around to talking in more detail about her ordeal in the library at the hands of Lucifer, Gail had told Cas that Lucifer had painted a sigil on the wall in poor Levi's blood. The symbol had prevented her from being able to leave. But then, it should also have prevented Cas from being able to enter the library, yet he had eventually been able to break through, following Chuck's panicked summons. There could be some merit to what Metatron was saying.

He regarded Metatron coolly. "All right. We'll see about that. But in the meantime, I'll have that Tablet back."

Metatron stood from his chair, and Cas regarded him curiously. Was the Scribe considering attacking him? Cas wished he would try; he really did. It was very difficult to sit here with him and remain civil. Surely, Metatron must understand that.

And apparently, he did, because he said, "Let me tell you where I'm coming from, Castiel. Better still, let me show you things from my point of view." He reached out and put his hand on Cas's forehead, and as Sam and Kevin looked on, startled, Castiel and Metatron disappeared from the tent.

Gail had caught up to where Nicole and Dean stood, watching the crew set up for the next scene. "Well, I just suffered a blow to my self-esteem," she told them wryly. She told them about her encounter with the female fans at the fence, and Nicole laughed.

"I know; I've been asked the same question myself," she said to Gail. "Am I anybody? That's a bit of an existential question, isn't it?"

"That's what I said!" Gail exclaimed, and the women laughed together. Gail grinned wickedly. "So then, just for spite, I told them I would have to ask my husband Castiel about that. Then they looked really confused. They probably think I'm delusional, or something."

"They just hate you because you're on the side of the fence they want to be on," Nicole remarked matter-of-factly. "Don't take it personally. I get that all the time. Those girls don't get that I'm just doing a job here. I don't hang around with those guys outside of work, or anything. They're all married, with kids. They're nice guys and all that, but we have a professional relationship, and that's it. Some of those girls have problems distinguishing between fantasy and reality. Then there are others who are nice, normal people, who just really enjoy what we're doing. I've got to admit, I'm proud to be a part of something so epic that's going to make a lot of people very happy. And to tell you the truth, I can't wait to see it on the big screen. It's going to be huge." Then she grinned. "But, I totally get it. I am only human, after all. Those guys are easy to look at, and they'll be even better-looking on such a large scale."

Now Dean grinned. "Thanks," he said to her.

Nicole regarded him. "What for?" she said teasingly. "I was talking about the actual actors in the movie."

"I was in the movie too, remember?" he said. He was referring to the action scene they had put him in, when they had visited the set in Egypt.

Nicole was smirking now. "Oh, that," she said airily. "As I recall, they had to shoot you from pretty far away, to maintain the illusion that you were the actor who plays Dean. You know, the good-looking one."

Gail burst out laughing. "Oh, that was harsh, Nicole," she said gleefully. "Hilarious, though."

Dean rolled his eyes. "You didn't seem to think I was so ugly when you were kissing me earlier," he retorted.

"Really? Tell me more," Gail said to Nicole, still smiling. "The way he teases me and Cas, I need all the ammunition I can get."

Nicole appeared to consider. "I'm trying to be a good friend, but there's a lot of stuff I can't tell you," she said mischievously. "You know, NSFW."

Dean grinned and put his arms around Nicole's waist. "Now you're talking my language," he said in her ear. Then he looked at Gail. "In other words, none of your business. Isn't that what you keep telling me about you and Cas?"

"It never stops you from asking, though, does it?" Gail retorted. But she was happy to see Dean and Nicole like this. Dean seldom looked as happy as he was looking right now.

Gail saw a man approach them from the side, and her face broke into a wide smile. "You made it!" she said, and she rushed over to hug him. "Where are Sam and Kevin? Are you done with Metatron?"

"Ummm, Gail..." Nicole said.

Gail was puzzled. Why wasn't Cas hugging her back? Had Metatron done something to upset him? She pulled back and looked at his face. And then she realized her mistake.

"I'm sorry," she said, embarrassed. What a surreal experience. This guy was the actor who played Cas on the show. How had she not seen that?

"O - kay," he said, stepping back from her. He had a slight smile on his face. "Not the first time that's happened to me." He looked quizzically at Nicole, and then at Dean. "Friends of yours?" he asked in a bemused tone.

"Yeah, they're just here to watch some of the filming," Nicole told him.

The actor was looking curiously at Dean. "Are you one of the body doubles?" he asked him. "You look an awful lot like - "

"Nah," Dean interrupted him, looking at him just as curiously. "I'm a friend of Cas's." He was tempted to add "the real one".

"Oh, is he here?" the actor said, looking around. "We miss him around here." He lowered his voice. "Between you and me, the guy they've got for me right now isn't as good as Cas was. And how funny is it that his name is actually Cas? You can't make stuff like that up. Talk about going full method." Then he looked at Gail again, as it dawned on him. "You must be his wife. Richard told us he got married."

"Yes, I am," Gail confirmed. She extended her hand for him to shake. "Gail," she said, introducing herself. "I'm sorry; for a second there, I thought you were Cas. The resemblance is remarkable."

The actor nodded. "It's true. He's a really good-looking guy," he quipped. He took Gail's hand to shake as she laughed.

"You're just as charming as he is, I see," Gail said to him. "I wish he was here. I'd love to take a picture with both of you. Are you going to be around here for a while?"

"I think so," he replied. "It depends on how long it takes to get the day's pages done. I'd better get back. I'm expected in wardrobe. Will Cas be here later? If so, bring him by. I'll get a selfie of the three of us and post it on Instagram."

"I'd better go too, then," Nicole said. She gave Dean a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you later." She left with the actor.

Gail was staring after them. "He's very nice," she remarked. "Good-looking, too."

"I'm telling Cas," Dean teased her. "You were totally flirting with him."

"I was not," she protested.

"You were so," he said, smirking. "You even hugged him. Wait till I tell Cas. He'd better behave himself, or you could just replace him."

Gail was trying to look mad, but she was starting to smile now. "Shut up, Dean," she said to him. Then, she tried to change the subject. "What about you and Nicole? What's going on there?"

"I like her," Dean said simply. "She's cool."

"Really? She's cool? What are you, in high school? That's not exactly a ringing endorsement," Gail said sarcastically.

"Hey, what do you want me to say?" Dean said, shrugging. "She's great. I like that she's got her own thing going on here. It gives us lots to talk about when we finally see each other. She gets what Sammy and I and the rest of us do, too. I can tell her anything, Gail. And, she's cute, she's funny, and whenever we get together, it's like we've never been apart."

"You know what you're describing, right?" Gail said, smiling at him. "You love her, Dean."

He opened his mouth to retort, then closed it, then opened it again. "You're right," he admitted.

She scrutinized his face. He wasn't being a smartass, Gail realized. He really meant it. "Have you told her?" Gail asked him softly.

Dean frowned. "No. Look at the kind of lives we lead, Gail. How can I drag her into that type of situation?"

"Didn't you just finish telling me that one of the things you like about her is her independence?" Gail asked him. "Then shouldn't that be her decision?"

Dean thought about that. "I knew there must be some kind of advantage to having a sister," he said with a half-smile. He put his arm around her and drew her in for a hug.

"Wow, I'm glad you didn't ask Frank about that," she quipped. "I shudder to think what his answer might have been." Gail kissed Dean softly on the cheek. "But seriously, thanks. I'm flattered. Tell her, Dean. Never pass up an opportunity to tell someone you love how you feel about them. Life's too short. Even for us Angels. Look at me; I've already died twice this week."

Dean gave her a funny look, but he realized that was technically true. Maybe she and Cas had a point, being as open and demonstrative as they were. That way, if anything were to happen to either one of them, they wouldn't have had any regrets about not having told each other how they really felt.

"Dean! Gail!" It was Sam's voice. They pulled out of the hug and turned around to see Sam and Kevin rushing towards them.

"What's the matter, Sammy?" Dean asked his brother.

"It's Cas and Metatron," Sam told them. "They're gone."

VIGNETTE - AUTHOR, AUTHOR

Castiel and Metatron were standing in the bunker, beside the table in the library area. Sam and Gail were sitting there looking at his laptop.

Cas looked at Metatron, puzzled. "What are we doing back here?"

"We're not actually here, Cas," Metatron told him. "You'll have to forgive the Charles Dickens plot device. It's late November. Just think of me as the Ghost of Christmas Past." He looked up at the staircase. "Oh, look. Here you come, now."

Cas looked up to see himself slowly descending the stairs. Then he realized what Metatron had done; he had winked them back to that first day, the day that Cas and Gail had met. The day that Castiel really considered to be his birthday, because that was the day that his life had truly begun.

Now that he understood what was going on, if not yet why, Castiel watched avidly. He saw himself coming down the stairs. His face was pale and haggard-looking, and his progress was slow. His Grace had been fading, and he'd been dying. He glared daggers at Metatron. The Scribe was the one who had taken his Grace, back then. Metatron gave him a grim smile and a half-shrug.

But Cas didn't want to look at Metatron right now. He moved over slightly, so that he could observe the moment that he and Gail had laid eyes on each other for the very first time.

"Hey, Cas," Dean greeted his trenchcoat-wearing friend. He had emerged from the hallway and passed Cas on his way to the coffee alcove at the far end of the library room.

Then Vision Cas looked at Gail, and she looked back at him. In a way, the moment seemed anticlimactic, considering how momentous it had turned out to be. There should have been a fanfare of trumpets, or something, Cas thought with some amusement.

But as he looked more closely, Cas realized that no fanfare was truly needed. Now that he knew Gail so well, and knew their relationship, he could see it right away. The way she looked at him with such caring and compassion. She'd noticed immediately how ill he had been, and she'd been truly worried about him. Now he knew, because he could see it clearly: she loved him already. As soon as she'd seen him, she'd loved him.

And he realized he had felt the same way. The instant Cas had seen her sitting there with Sam and she had lifted her brown eyes to look into his blue ones, he had fallen in love. He'd been entranced by her eyes. Now, everyone teased her about "the doe eyes", but that was truly what they were. He'd been taken aback by her the instant he'd seen her. He remembered what had gone through his mind at the time. Who was she, and how did she know Sam and Dean? Why had he never seen her before? He'd said a subconscious prayer that she wasn't there as a companion for either of the brothers. He smiled now as he recalled that fleeting thought. He'd never had such a thought before that day. Cas had given up on ever finding love for himself by that time. In all the millennia that he had been in existence, Castiel had longed for romantic love. He'd had so many feelings that he'd wanted to express, and to share. But he had never in all that time made the acquaintance of anyone that he felt that way about. When he'd met Sam and Dean and Bobby, and their friends, Cas finally found an outlet for his love, but that hadn't been enough. Then, that very first look into Gail's eyes, and he'd known that his long wait was finally over.

But he had been dying, so he hadn't let on. Then she had cured him, and by the time she'd left his room that night, Cas had fallen thoroughly and completely in love with her. But he'd been awkward and shy, and his time with the Winchesters had made him reticent to express his true feelings. If Cas were to confide in Dean just then, his friend would likely have told him to "be cool". But how could you be cool when you had come face to face with the love of your life? Besides, she was a human, and he was an Angel. How would that even work? And Gail had been preoccupied with her own problems that night. She had been worried about her brother Frank. When they had discovered where Frank was, but then he had died, she had been in the throes of grief. Then Crowley had kidnapped her, and they'd gone through that whole ordeal. By that time, Cas had finally haltingly admitted to Dean that he loved Gail, but he could not say it to her, because she had been forced into Crowley's service at the time. And when he'd gotten her back, she had still been Crowley's. By the time that he and the Winchesters cured her, she had felt so badly about what she'd done for Crowley, or what she thought she had done, that she had elected to leave the bunker. But even though Castiel had thought at the time that he was prepared to let her go, he couldn't, of course. The Winchesters had come with him to go and get her, and Cas had let them believe that the rescue operation was their idea, and that he was just going along to help. But if the brothers had not made the offer, Castiel would have gone in there alone, anyway. He would have killed anyone and everyone on the premises in order to release her, or he would have died trying. But Sam and Dean and Gail had all died in that place. Fortunately, God the Father had shown mercy to Cas, allowing the three humans a do-over.

Castiel had then received the biggest gift of all. Sam and Dean had chosen the status quo, which had made Cas happy because he knew that the brothers would be happy, and because his relationship with them would not change. But then, wonder of wonders, Gail had chosen to become an Angel, and God had allowed Cas to take on the role of her mentor. Well, that was one way to put it, he thought amusedly. He still had not confessed his feelings to her at that point, but she'd known, of course. They'd gotten an apartment together and, even though they were chaste at the time, they had officially become a couple in everyone's eyes.

Cas had become so lost in his reminiscence that he had almost forgotten who he was standing there with. He looked at Metatron now. "Why did you bring me here?" he asked the Scribe. "What was the purpose?"

"You looked like you were enjoying the nostalgia," Metatron replied calmly.

Castiel was annoyed. Whether he was or not, that was none of Metatron's business. Considering all of the terrible things he had done to all of them, he was extremely fortunate to even be standing here right now. "Be that as it may, what is your point, Scribe?" he said testily.

Metatron snapped his fingers, and they were standing outside the bunker. "I just thought this might be a little less distracting," he told Castiel. "It always was a little difficult to keep your attention with Gail around."

Cas's hands were curling into fists. "You're trying my patience, Metatron," he said through gritted teeth. "Make your point."

Metatron sighed inwardly. He supposed he couldn't blame Castiel for feeling the way he did. Metatron was trying to be friendly in his own fashion, but he was clearly using the wrong approach here. He and Castiel would never be on cordial terms. Metatron was actually very lucky to still be alive. So he'd better get to the point, before Castiel chopped him into tiny little pieces.

"I'm not just God's Scribe," he told Castiel, "I'm also the Alpha Prophet."

Cas looked at him incredulously. "What? What do you mean?"

"Just what I said," Metatron replied. "Apparently, I've had the ability since time began, but I never knew about it. Our Father didn't bother to enlighten me. Don't ask me why He would have made me the First Prophet and then not even told me about it, though. Such is our Father, sometimes. But I can tell you, Cas, we could have avoided so much turmoil if He had. As His Scribe, I was nothing more than his lap dog. I know that's what people were calling me behind my back, but that's what I was. And that was ALL I was. Or so I thought. But the signs were there all along; I just didn't pay any heed to them. I knew things, Castiel. I knew things I had no business knowing. That was how I was able to get away with so many things over the years. I knew that you were the one I could manipulate into causing The Fall. I also knew that I was going to be thrown into prison at the end of that caper, but I had already foreseen my escape, courtesy of Chuck and Aurielle. You tried valiantly to prevent it, but, how could you? I already knew what you were going to do, before you even thought about doing it. So I summoned you to Dallas, and you brought the Winchesters, and Gail. But I underestimated her. That's one hell of a woman you've got there, Cas. I fell into the same misogynist trap that Lucifer and Crowley and all of us old-timers fall into. Even you, sometimes. Simply put, we don't give her enough credit. It's just like you and the sigils. We don't believe she's a force to be reckoned with, so she doesn't believe it, either. You'll be quite amazed at what she can do, if given the chance. Think about that."

Metatron smiled, holding up his hand. "But, I digress. Anyway, I underestimated her, she killed me, and in most cases, that would have been the end of the story. But you know how things are in our world. Bad pennies have a way of turning up. So I ended up in Hell, and I was mad as, well, you-know-what about it. I was just one big, ugly ball of jealousy and resentment. So I escaped Hell and took my revenge. I'm not looking for forgiveness, Castiel. I killed your wife in Las Vegas out of pure meanness. I would have gladly killed any one of you back then. It was actually YOU that I was looking for that day. I wanted the most powerful Grace I could get my hands on. At that point, I still thought that I could force my way into Heaven. That I deserved to sit at the table with the Upper Echelon, as a peer. I still didn't get it, Cas. So I schemed, and I plotted, and I blackmailed Xavier, and I executed you. From then on, it was supposed to be smooth sailing. But then along came Crowley, and he ruined everything for me. Some Prophet I was, right? I predicted pretty much everything else, but that? No way did I see that one coming. Who knew that Crowley was going to screw me out of being God, and revive you?"

Metatron shook his head. "That should have been my wake-up call, Castiel. Let's face it; Crowley hates you. So, how hated do I have to be to make him pick you over me?" He saw the expression on Cas's face darken, and he held up his hand again. "Just give me another minute to finish, Castiel. Then, after I'm done, if you still want to kill me, you can have at it. But: you want to hear what I have to say next. You really do. And so does Gail. I'm being a male chauvinist pig again. Wait here. I'll be right back."

As Cas stood there astonished, wondering where Metatron had gone, the Winchesters, Kevin, and Gail were running back to Metatron's tent. They burst in and sure enough, Cas and Metatron were gone.

"What happened?" Gail demanded, panicked. "Where did they go?"

At that moment, Metatron reappeared. He grabbed Gail's arm and looked at the men. "Sorry, fellas, but I promise you they'll be fine," Metatron said. "Wait here." Then he popped out again, taking Gail with him.

Metatron reappeared instantly with Gail, and Cas let out the breath he'd been holding. He rushed forward to claim Gail's hand. But Metatron let go of her right away. He was no fool. Castiel's temper was being stretched to the limit as it was. But the payoff was going to be huge for the couple. Metatron just had to stay alive long enough to get there, first.

He looked at Gail. "I'm sorry for the dramatics, Gail, but I was just taking your husband for a stroll down Memory Lane, and then I realized that you should be taking the walk with us. I beg your indulgence. Old habits die hard." Then he gave her a little bow. It had been ages since Metatron had used any manners, and he was a bit rusty.

Gail looked at Cas, puzzled. "What's this all about, Cas?"

He was frowning. "I don't know." He looked at Metatron. "And my patience is just about gone."

Metatron looked at both of them. "I had just gotten up to the point in our story when Crowley revived Castiel," he told them. "As we all know, that was the point where things started to get really crazy. If I was still 'that guy', I would say that Crowley shares some culpability in that whole Demon thing, too. But I'm not going to say that. I regret that whole Demon period, on a number of different levels. I brought you here to try to explain why I did what I did. I was a jealous little troll, an empty shell of a being, by that time. I'd bounced around from Heaven to Hell to Earth and back again, and I think I'd had some sort of a psychotic break by that point. Or I was a sociopath. A psychiatrist would know the actual clinical term. But, the bottom line is: I did what I did at the cabin out of sheer spite. I wanted the both of you to pay for all of my shortcomings. You were just too...perfect."

Metatron shook his head slowly. "So I made Castiel into one of the worst creatures imaginable, and I made sure that he infected you too, Gail, so you would go along for the ride. That was the only way it was going to work. But once I'd created the monster, the story just kind of went there, all by itself. There are a lot of writers who argue that at some point, the story takes on a life of its own, and I swear, that's what happened here. The Castiel character was way too perfect, and their love story was too sickeningly sweet to be true. So I had to throw a monkey wrench into the works and blow the whole thing apart, so that I could rebuild. They couldn't continue on the way that they had been. And the Gail character? She was even more unbelievable. She had to become a stronger woman, in order to hold her own with Cas, and in their mans' world. Cas had to truly respect her in order for their relationship to grow into a healthy one. Otherwise, she was just going to remain the helpless damsel forever, in his eyes. So she finally stood up to Castiel. Kicked him to the curb. I am strong, I am invincible, I am woman. We had to wade through a crapstorm to get there, but I think it was worth it in the end, don't you?"

Cas and Gail were regarding him, open-mouthed. This was one hell of a speech, but what exactly was Metatron trying to say?

"What the hell are you talking about, Metatron?" Gail said irritably. "Is this your way of confessing that you're 'First Edition', the person who wrote all those fan fiction stories about us? Well, I hate to tell you this, but we already know."

"No, that's not what I'm talking about, although in another way, it kind of is," Metatron said enigmatically.

"Why are you talking about us as 'characters'?" Cas wanted to know.

"Sorry, it's just what we authors do," Metatron replied. "Anyway, as a plot device, it was very divisive. Some people liked it, but many readers didn't. At that point, I didn't really care. I wanted to knock Cas down a peg or two, or ten. And I also wanted to try my hand at a couple of different styles of writing. I felt like I'd exhausted the Romeo and Juliet, tragic lovers theme, and I wanted to see if I could get a little more adult content in there." Metatron sighed. In for a penny, in for a pound. He'd promised himself that he was going to be totally honest, here. That was the only way he was going to be able to achieve any credibility. "Let's face it, kids, I was horny. Lucifer's not the only Original who was still a virgin after all of those centuries. There. I said it. Like a certain other Prophet we all know, I was dabbling in erotica when it came to you two."

Gail didn't even know where to begin. But she had keyed in on Metatron's word usage. "OK, first of all...ewww," she said. "But putting all of that aside for a moment, what do you mean, 'other Prophet'?"

"That's right. You missed the beginning of the movie," Metatron said pleasantly. "I told Castiel earlier that God made me the Alpha Prophet."

"But all we have is his word for it," Cas added.

Metatron inclined his head. "Fair enough, Castiel. So, I'll tell you a few things to watch out for, going forward. You'll be seeing Jason again, soon, and he will try to blame all of you for the situation he finds himself again now. But, it was all of his own doing. Remember that, Cas. The same goes for Xavier. He has convinced himself that you are to blame for his fate. And yes, his backstory was very sad. But he deserves to be in Hell, for the way he conducted himself in Heaven. I know you feel guilt when it comes to the board members, Castiel, but just remember that they are not blameless."

Cas frowned, but he said nothing. He supposed that Metatron was right, but it was just such a strange experience to hear his longtime enemy talk like this that he was rendered speechless for the moment.

Metatron continued, "I'd suggest you brush up on the lore before you go to Romania," he told the couple. "Lucifer is going to be mad as hell when you toss him out of Heaven, and he's going to pull out all the stops from now on to try to prevent you from getting the rest of the Tablets. He's going to call in some reinforcements. Don't forget that most monsters will give in to their true natures in the end, Castiel."

Now Cas laughed derisively. "That's really good, coming from you," he told Metatron. "Are you not trying to convince us that you yourself have changed?"

Metatron frowned. "I'm talking literal monsters, Cas. Yes, all right. Many of my actions were monstrous. But reformation and redemption are possible. I'm living proof. Look at Garth and Bess, the Winchesters' werewolf friends. They made a resolve a long time ago, and they've stuck to it. But when given the opportunity, most actual monsters will go back to their default settings." He smiled. "I'm getting quite good at the computer now. Definitely one of our Father's most innovative inventions."

"OK, so we're going to be encountering monsters soon. Great," Gail mused aloud in a wry voice. She'd accepted what Metatron had said about being a Prophet at face value. While it was kind of curious that they hadn't known about it before, she was going with the flow. Nothing in their world surprised her anymore. Or so she thought. She sighed. "Well, at least Sam and Dean and Frank have the knowledge and the weapons, and we have the otherworldly powers," she said to Cas, who nodded. Yes, he was thinking the same thing. While it would not be pleasant, he was of the opinion that they would be able to dispatch any monster they came across quite easily.

"Now, switching gears," Metatron said. "We need to talk about the election that will take place in Heaven." He saw both Cas and Gail open their mouths to speak, and he held up his hands again. "And before you get mad, let me assure you I'm just trying to help. I'm not looking to inject myself into the process, or anything like that. I'm done with seeking power. I like my life now. But I can see some things looming on the horizon, and if I hope to show that I'm sincere about turning over a new leaf, I must tell you what I'm seeing. There are some Angels who want to keep the tribunal system in place, but as the two of you know first-hand, that frequently doesn't end well. Even if you don't have a guy like Xavier running the show. But there are some radicals in Heaven who think that tribunals could be used to kick certain Angels out of Heaven, or worse. Despite your new laws, and the supposedly enlightened attitude there, a lot of the old prejudices still linger, and the sources of some of those might surprise you. Once Lucifer has been dealt with, and is truly gone, you two need to do something about the situation in Heaven. Otherwise, you may as well just leave Lucifer in charge. If the situation continues on unchecked, Heaven will be destroyed, one way or another. Right now, there's a female Angel who will be a huge threat to you all, and there is another one who is teetering on the brink."

"Who are these Angels? Tell us," Cas said sharply. He was starting to get angry again. He knew that this was the way that Prophets sometimes talked, but it was frustrating to hear those kinds of vague warnings. The irony was totally lost on him. If Dean were there, he would be holding up a mirror to Cas's face.

"If I knew that, I would tell you, Castiel," Metatron said mildly. "You know what an inexact science Prophecy can be. I'm telling you everything I know. I do have one specific thing to tell you, though. You'll have to help out our old friend Chuck. Once he's cured, he's going to be really embarrassed about his behaviour. But you have to cut him some slack, Castiel. He's under a spell."

Cas frowned. "We thought as much. I don't suppose you have any idea as to the source of the spell, or what the cure might be?"

Metatron's brow furrowed. "All I know is that it's got something to do with Paris."

Cas sighed. "All right." They would have to figure that out. He made another tick on his mental checklist.

Metatron was eyeing Castiel carefully. Cas seemed fairly calm at the moment. Maybe the time was right for what Metatron had to say next. He braced himself.

"Watch out for your anger, or wrath, if you will, Castiel. Whether you become God, or not. That's always been your weak spot. Gail will try to help you with that. Let her, Cas. Don't shut her out. When you stop communicating, that's when the trouble always begins," Metatron told him.

Cas glared at Metatron. This time, the irony was not lost on him. He was being warned about his anger, and the admonition was making him angry. "You would know all about my anger, wouldn't you, being the cause of it so many times yourself?" he retorted. "And what do you mean, 'whether I become God'? Who said anything about me being God?"

Gail's lips were twitching. She was appreciating the irony, too. It was strange, though; a few years ago, when their Father had offered the job to Castiel, neither he nor Gail thought that he was cut out to do it. But now, she was reconsidering her position on that. If Cas could keep a rein on his temper, she actually thought he could be a wonderful God. However, if he still felt like he didn't want to do the job, she was definitely not going to push him about it.

"Besides, we need to worry about Lucifer, first and foremost," Cas went on. "You said that we need Crowley to help defeat him. But, what if Crowley will not cooperate? What then?"

"Go back to the blades," Metatron said to him. "There's more information there. Look at mine, as well. I'll need it back when the time comes, but you can keep it in the bunker for now. Look at the checks and balances on each blade. Crowley does have a couple of vulnerabilities, and they will be reflected on our blades." He allowed himself a small smile. "And at the risk of incurring that famous wrath, we have one of his vulnerabilities standing right here. Your wife."

Castiel's eyes flashed, but he hung on to his temper for the moment. "What exactly are you suggesting, Metatron?" he asked quietly. "And I'd be very careful about your verbiage, if I were you."

But Gail was shaking her head. She knew what Metatron was talking about, of course, and so did Cas. "I'm not so sure that's true anymore," she said. She was thinking about the way Crowley had been the last time they had seen him. He had been angry and bitter towards both herself and Castiel. In the past, Crowley had always exhibited a bit of a soft underbelly when it came to Gail. That was one of those open secrets that their extended family had, a fact that was common knowledge amongst them but that nobody ever talked about. She had customarily been able to get Crowley to do things for her that he wouldn't have done for anyone else, and at times he had been one of their staunchest allies. But recently, something had changed in the dynamic between them, and she still wasn't sure exactly why. Now that she knew that she had been married to him centuries ago and had technically cheated on him with Castiel, Gail supposed she could kind of understand Crowley's attitude. But that had happened so very, very long ago, so why was Crowley pouting about it now? And, quite frankly, he had been dipping his wick, so to speak, all throughout their marriage, even before she had met Castiel in the incarnation of Sir Lancelot. Damn, she hated double standards.

Metatron looked at her. "I am," he told her firmly. "He'll come around, I'm sure of it. But if he doesn't, you can always blackmail him into it." He smiled. "I would help you if you asked, but maybe I'd better stay away from nefarious activities, now that I've quit cold turkey."

Gail and Cas looked at each other. Metatron really did seem different to them now. Calmer; more at peace with himself. Was it possible? Had one of their worst enemies actually been able to turn the page on his existence, and leave his evil ways behind?

Metatron smiled benignly, looking at Gail again. "You know, I tried several times to write a girlfriend for Castiel into the screenplay, but they shot me down every time. Said it would be too hard to believe."

"I'm not sure if you've just been insulted, or if I have," Gail quipped, looking at her husband.

"Neither," Metatron said hastily. "But, while I'm on a roll, I'd like to apologize to you both for all of the terrible things I did to you in the past. But I'm not that guy anymore. I mean it. In fact, when I look back at myself, I don't even recognize that guy. All that evil scheming, and where did it get me in the end? Nowhere. Locked away in Lucifer's cage. At the risk of being self-indulgent, please allow me to repeat the following quote: 'All concerns of men go wrong when they wish to cure evil with evil'. I may have said that before, but I actually get its meaning now. You need to heed it too, Castiel. That's what I was doing with all my scheming, and I can see you potentially falling into the same trap. Even if you have the purest of intentions, evil is still evil. You avoided that quite neatly with Aurielle, by the way. I've seen her around Vancouver a few times, and she seems to be thriving. She's a good person now, and she's been helping the other women at the shelter. You can both take credit for that. So, if I can leave you with any advice at all, it would be this: Don't open the door, even a crack, to evil thoughts or evil deeds. Because if you do, the door can burst wide open. It doesn't have to, but it might. I came so close to letting that happen. When I escaped Lucifer's cage, I very nearly BECAME him. That first day, I left my motel room and went for a walk, trying to decide what I was going to do with myself. I stood at a street corner, waiting for the light to change. On my right was a schoolyard. There were a bunch of kids there, just playing and hanging out. And across the street was a stationery store. I just stood there, staring. Right, or straight across? Kids, or pens and paper? I looked at the children. That was the abyss, right there. Then I looked at the store. That light took forever to change. But then finally it did, and I crossed the street and went to the store. And I haven't looked at any schoolyards since. So, when I started to write my stories - " He flashed them a brief smile, " - Excuse me, OUR stories, I had that in the back of my mind. Good versus Evil, and the struggles that we all go through, battling the dark nature within us all. How everything seems so black and white, until you're presented with a challenge. Even the best of people can go dark, if the recipe is right. Dean had the Mark of Cain. Gail had Crowley's blood coursing through her body. Then, later, Crowley was able to corrupt Frank. In some cases, the decisions that were made were made with the best of intentions, but once you open that door, even a crack, you have to be careful about what you're letting in. These were cautionary tales that I was writing, couched in drama and allegory. That whole Demon thing was the biggest cautionary tale of all. If someone as sainted as Castiel could fall that far, surely that parable would illustrate how easy it was to descend into Evil. I guess it was me who I was trying to explain. To be honest, I was probably trying to make excuses for myself; at least, at first. The worse I felt about myself, the worse Castiel became. It was a catharsis of sorts for me; I realize that now."

Gail was looking at Metatron with a quizzical expression. What was his point? He'd gotten up on a soapbox now, and they'd been letting him work through what he obviously felt like he had to say.

He had started out talking about his struggles against Evil when he'd gotten out of Lucifer's cage. Actually, that had been the most nakedly honest, unflinching account that Castiel had ever heard from Metatron, and Cas completely believed its veracity. Metatron had made the appalling confession a couple of years prior that he'd had those kinds of unnatural thoughts, but that he had never acted on them. Thankfully, when he had been presented with his opportunity to succumb to the purest Evil, Metatron had walked in the opposite direction.

But then he had segued into talking about the stories he had written. Castiel thought he understood what Metatron was trying to get at, to a point. It was true that many of their troubles had stemmed from the decisions they had made, and the consequences that had arisen as a result of these decisions. Cas himself was the perfect example of this concept. He got that. But Metatron was behaving very strangely now, referring to the Demon episode as a "parable". Well, the last Castiel looked, a parable was a fictitious story. That had been the worst, most painful time in Cas and Gail's lives, and Cas didn't appreciate Metatron's cavalier attitude.

"You call it a 'parable'," he said scornfully. "You would have us believe that you have changed, but you refer to the worst thing you ever did to me, and also to Gail, so casually, as if it was just a tale. Well, it's a lot more personal to us than that. And you were the one who did it to me!"

Gail's blood ran cold. Metatron was smiling now, Cas was about to lose it, and there was something really weird going on here. Metatron was actually smiling.

"Let me ask you a question, Castiel," he said. "You too, Gail. Did you not improve as individuals afterwards? Gail, you're an extremely strong woman now. Do you think that you would be this way, this unwilling to take any b.s. from anyone, if you hadn't been pushed to the brink like you were? Look at the way you grew up. Closeted in your room, nose in books about mythical creatures and fantastical situations. You were a mousy little thing. You never would have been able to stand up for yourself the way that you ended up doing. The way you do now."

"Turns out I was pretty much reading about what my life would be like," she said wryly. "And I wish I could be insulted by your assessment of me, but I'm afraid you're pretty much right on the money. Even though you're being a bit of an ass about it."

"See? That's the spirit I'm talking about," Metatron said, smiling at her. "You don't retreat into a room anymore, do you? When the going gets tough, you're out there, swinging away. Hanging with the big boys."

Then Metatron turned to Cas. "And, you? When Gail kicked you out, she gave you the wake-up call that our Father had been trying to give you since pretty much the beginning of everything. You were always strong, Castiel, but you were also deeply flawed. Now you're noble, you're self-sacrificing, and you've learned how to love yourself. Would you not agree that the Demon period, while it was a horrible premise, ultimately benefitted you both, in terms of your growth as individuals, and as a couple? You can't buy therapy like that! Well, you could, but it might take centuries to work through all of that, and it would empty out your bank account. So, does it really matter what actually happened? Others would probably have written it differently, but I confess that I probably let my personal feelings get in the way, just a wee tad. Cas was a little too perfect, and so were you, Gail. He needed to be Demonized, and you needed to slut it up a little."

"That's it!" Cas shouted. He reached into his pocket and whipped out his blade. Then he rushed Metatron and grabbed him by the shirt, holding the blade to his throat. "You have talked and talked, and I let you have your say. But you will not use a word like that when you are addressing my wife!" His blue eyes were blazing as they looked into Metatron's terrified ones. Metatron was cursing himself. He had rambled, and he had gotten too complacent.

"I'm sorry," Metatron said quickly. "I'm sorry, Gail. I meant no disrespect. I got carried away, telling my stories. I do that sometimes. I write pages and pages, and then the editors come in and cut the crap out of it."

"You'll be lucky if I don't cut the crap out of you in about five seconds," Cas muttered. He took a deep breath, then released Metatron. He had to remind himself that they needed the little -

Gail's lips were twitching. Cas had gotten way better with the retorts and the one-liners. Funny, she'd just been thinking about his temper being a potential liability, but she was also reminded now that it could be a glorious thing, sometimes. For all of her talk about feminism and enlightenment, Gail loved it when Cas stood up for her this way. And if being hot for her own husband made her a slut, then she'd gladly be one.

Metatron was looking nervously at Cas's blade hand. "I humbly apologize," he said again. "If you'll stand down for just a minute, Castiel, I will tell both you and Gail what I brought you here to tell you, without any more rambling."

Cas glared at him for a moment or two longer. Then he slowly put his blade back in his pocket and moved back over to where Gail was standing. He looked at her, frowning, and he was puzzled when he saw that she was smiling at him. The look of confusion on his face was so cute that it took some will power on her part not to burst out laughing. But this was not the time or the place to tell him how sexy his old-school chivalry was to her.

Metatron swallowed once, then said, "It never happened."

They looked at him blankly, so he went on, "I made the whole thing up. The Demon thing never happened."

There was a moment or two of silence, and then Cas swore, using a very earthy and descriptive phrase for Metatron. A moment ago, he had been ready to slice and dice Metatron over a word that, while being pejorative to women, was much milder than the one Cas was using now. But Gail completely understood. She was looking at Metatron with suspicion, waiting for the smirk and the punchline.

"What do you think you're trying to pull now?" Castiel exclaimed angrily.

"Nothing," Metatron insisted. "I'm being straight up with you. None of it ever happened. I was just screwing with the two of you. When Jason and Aurielle and I had you both captive in the cabin, I modified both of your memories. I planted false memories in each of your heads."

Gail's eyes widened. This was unbelievable. "Oh, come on!" she said sarcastically. "What the hell, Metatron? What are you doing, testing us? What are we, a focus group to see if your next plot twist will work, or something?"

"No, I'm telling you the truth, Gail. It never happened."

"Oh, that's just b.s.!" she wailed. "What do you mean, it never happened?! Then how do you explain everything that happened after the cabin?"

"Such as?" Metatron asked her.

Gail looked helplessly at Cas, but his expression was unreadable. "Such as..." Gail started to say, but in her frustration, she was having a hard time forming a complete sentence. "How about, oh, I don't know, everything?!" she ranted. "How about Cas's behaviour? My bruises and abrasions? Alexander and Xavier? The cure? Everything!"

"That can all be explained logically," Metatron said calmly. "I can answer any questions that you may have."

"Oh, you can, can you? Well, isn't that nice," Gail said, and now her voice was dripping with sarcasm. "He can answer all our questions, Cas." She glared at Metatron. "Maybe you can answer this, then: Do you know how it feels to see the one you love above all else turn slowly into a monster? Do you know what it's like to have to decide whether you have to kill him, or whether you should kill yourself, because you just can't take the pain anymore? Let's start with that, and then go from there."

"He's lying, Gail," Cas said. He reached for her hand, but she was so agitated now that she didn't notice. She strode up to Metatron and peered closely at his face. "Are you lying, Metatron?" she demanded.

He stood his ground. "No, I'm not, Gail," he said firmly. "I knew how shocking it would be for you to hear it, but just think about it, for a minute. Let it sink in. It never happened, Gail. None of it. Cas was never a monster, and you were never a victim. It was all in your heads."

Cas was regarding Metatron speculatively. Why was he saying this? Why was he doing this? What was in it for him? He asked Metatron this now.

"I'm saying it because it's the truth, Cas," Metatron replied. "I figured it was the only way to prove to you that I'm on your side now. It was always going to be something between you, and it was always going to hold the both of you back. You thought you had a dark secret, one that your friends and family needed to be protected from. But there's no secret, because there was no Demon period. None. Period."

"Then how are Alexander and Xavier in Hell?" Castiel challenged him angrily. "And how was Jason in Purgatory, until Lucifer brought him out?"

"Alexander and Xavier were humans," Metatron answered him calmly. "They were ill-equipped to deal with human life. They died, Cas. They went to Hell due to their misdeeds in Heaven, not because you sent them there. And Jason was murdered as he was being held in Heaven's jail. Technically, that case is still open, but Ethan didn't pursue the investigation very vigorously, because, quite frankly, no one cared. One less douchebag in the realm, right, Castiel?"

"Okay, what about our meetings in the warehouse with Crowley, then?" Gail chimed in.

Metatron shrugged nonchalantly. "I can only assume that those actually did take place. Or variations of them, anyway. But Crowley is shielded to me. And I mean, completely shielded. I can't see him, I can't make prophecies about him, nothing. People have called me the wild card, but it's him who's the wild card. I have no idea what's going on with him. I never have."

Gail stared at Cas, wide-eyed. She really, really wanted Metatron to be telling the truth. Imagine how wonderful that would be. There were so many things that had happened, or that she was under the impression had happened, that she wished could just be erased from their lives, once and for all. But life didn't work like that. "This is bull!" she exclaimed. "It's just another way for him to torment us, Cas! How many TV shows have we watched where the writers fake the viewers out? 'It was only a dream'. Well, phew. No problem, then. None of the bad stuff ever happened. It's all puppies, rainbows, and unicorns." She was crying now. "I can't take any more of this! I really can't! I don't know what you think you're doing, Metatron, but you know what? I'm done. You can't keep screwing around with people like this and expect there not to be consequences! What the hell, Cas? Just kill him!"

Cas stood there, indecisive. He also really wanted to believe that Metatron was telling the truth, even more so than Gail did. That would be like winning every lottery in the known universe. Imagine a reality where he had never done any of those terrible things. Imagine if he had never hurt Gail, ever. Imagine a day that he didn't have that weight of guilt on his chest, and in his heart, and on his mind. He didn't usually let on these days, but still, every day of his existence since the cure, Cas spent at least an hour or two in self-recrimination. Every single day. The morning of his and Gail's wedding, Cas had gone to the cathedral before dawn. He had knelt and prayed to their Father for an hour or so, pleading for forgiveness, and absolution. A part of him had believed that she wasn't going to show up, or that God was going to pull the rug out from underneath him at the eleventh hour. What on earth had made him think that he deserved to have Gail marry him? She was going to change her mind. What about if she started to think of all the times he had hurt her? What about if she decided that mere forgiveness wasn't enough to erase all of the pictures that she must have in her head, every single day? Because those were the same pictures that he had in his, and he had not even been on the receiving end. And if the images were of such torment to him, he could not even begin to think how horrible they would be for her. So he had knelt, he had prayed, and he had cried. And when he had seen Gail walk down the aisle in that beautiful white dress, he had thanked his Father profusely. But the guilt had remained.

Cas saw Gail's point about the TV programs. They'd seen plenty of shows in which things like that had happened, and he had to admit that as a plot device, that kind of thing was effective. Had he been watching their story instead of living it, how glad he would have been when it was revealed that the entire ugly incident had only been a dream, a fantasy cooked up by the writers. But, Gail was right; things didn't work that way in real life. Metatron had to be screwing with them. But, why? What would be in it for him? They hadn't had any dealings with each other since he and Lucifer had gotten out of that cage, except for that brief encounter in Egypt, when Metatron had revealed himself, and advised that he would help them deal with Lucifer. If Metatron was trying to mess with them, why had he waited so long to do it?

He looked sadly at Gail. She was so upset, and who could blame her? But it was strange, really. Now she was the one who was angry, and all he wanted to do was hold her, and whisper words of love and reassurance. She didn't have to ask Cas to kill Metatron; if their erstwhile enemy was telling them anything less than the complete truth, Cas would gladly kill Metatron, and he would take his time about it, too. And he would inflict about a million wounds on Metatron first, one for every tear that he and Gail had cried.

Then he looked at Metatron, who stepped forward and said, "Do it, Castiel."

But instead of getting his blade out, Cas called softly to Gail to come to him. When she did, he put one hand on her forehead and the other hand on Metatron's. He looked into Metatron's mind, and since his other hand was on Gail's head, she could see the same things that Castiel was seeing.

Castiel spent a good long time in there, searching through all of Metatron's thoughts. It was as if he and Gail were in a huge house, walking hand in hand, looking in every room. Some of the rooms were airy and well-lit, and they had bookshelves and comfy chairs in them. Others had Cas and Gail's family and friends in them, and they were discussing possible upcoming plotlines for the movie franchise. Where should they go to get the final Tablet, assuming that they got the one in Romania? Were they all going to survive the trip? And, what would Lucifer do in response? Metatron was pretty sure he already knew the answers to all of those questions. But his characters sometimes weighed in too, and sometimes, their ideas were better than his. For example, Metatron had had no idea how the group was going to deal with the white supremacists in Paris. But then, one day, character Castiel had spoken into his ear, and his voice had been so clear that Metatron had actually wheeled around, startled. I'll have to be the one who kills them all, Cas had told Metatron, and he had explained how that could be accomplished without Gail, the Winchesters, or Henri being harmed, or being responsible for any of those deaths themselves. So Metatron had written it that way, and even though the scene in the catacombs where Cas had left Etienne bleeding in the dark to be a meal for the rats had given him the chills, it had turned out to be one of the most compelling scenes he had ever written.

When Cas and Gail got to that particular door, and Gail saw Cas talking about what he had done there, she stopped short, waiting until she heard the full account. Then she touched her husband's face with her free hand. "Oh, sweetie," she murmured. "I had no idea."

He was uncomfortable. He'd known that she wouldn't exactly disapprove of what he'd done there, but Cas hadn't been especially eager to disclose to his wife one of the more brutal aspects to his personality. He was loving and gentle and noble the vast majority of the time, but he was still Castiel the avenging Angel, and he still had that streak of dark running through the light. But he supposed it was just as well that she knew about it now. He didn't want there to be anymore secrets between them.

They backed out of that room and walked wordlessly down the hall. There were a few more empty rooms, and then they came upon a black door, and when Cas opened it, there stood Lucifer.

"Well, son of a bitch," he said to them. "Just look what the cat dragged in. I guess that means the jig is up, then. If he's let the two of you in here, that means the little troll is planning to line up on the side of Good. Oh, well. Red Rover, Red Rover. I've got Crowley now. He finally grew a pair and realized that he's the King of Hell, not the King of Disneyland. So, fine. You can have the little weasel. Strange bedfellows, though. When he told me in the cage what he did to you at the cabin, we laughed and laughed. We hated each other's guts most of the time, but I had to admit, that was brilliant. Worthy of me, even. So diabolical of him to make you believe that Castiel was a Demon, and a vampire. Such angst. Such pain. Boo-hoo-hoo," he said sarcastically, curling his hands into fists and pretending to wipe his eyes with them, as a child would do.

Castiel was getting angry again. Even though he knew this whole conversation was only taking place in Metatron's head, that did not make it any less true. They were receiving confirmation that Lucifer had been in on the ruse.

"So when you modified everyone's memories on our behalf - " Cas started to say, but Lucifer interrupted him gleefully: " - I did nothing! Diddly-squat! Nada! I didn't have to modify anything, because there was nothing to modify! Isn't that hilarious?"

Cas just stood there gaping at him. Then Lucifer threw his head back and started to laugh. After a minute, Gail couldn't take it anymore. She rushed forward and slammed the door shut.

"Break the connection," she said to Cas. He stared at her. "Break it!" she shouted, and the house and all of its rooms faded from her vision.

A moment later, they were looking at Metatron again, and Gail was livid.

"It's a trick!" she said to Cas.

"It can't be, Gail," he told her in a dazed voice. "We checked every part of his brain. He must be telling the truth."

"Oh, and Lucifer's our proof? Well, all right, then. We all know how honest and trustworthy HE is!" she exclaimed.

"What can I say to convince you that it's true?" Metatron asked her.

Gail wheeled on him. "OK. How about all of those seances?" she challenged Metatron. "What about Oliver?"

"What about him?" Metatron asked her.

"If none of it happened, allegedly, then how do you explain me going to all those seances at Oliver's place?" she said irritably. "How do you explain my even knowing him?"

"I didn't say you'd never been to Oliver's house," Metatron said calmly. "You went there once with Sam and Dean, shortly after you became an Angel. Castiel was on one of his solo forays into Heaven, before he'd decided to let you into the loop. Sam used Oliver's services on cases once in a while, and you went along with him and Dean one day when you were tired of sitting around waiting for Castiel to come back from Heaven. That's when you met Oliver. I'm not sure exactly what would have happened on that occasion. I may be the Alpha Prophet, but like any Prophet, I can only see what I can see. You'll have to ask Sam or Dean if they remember. But I have the feeling that you didn't particularly like Oliver for some reason, and the feeling was likely mutual. Perhaps you exchanged some words with him. You do have a - shall we say - tart tongue sometimes, and Oliver was an irascible old coot, from what I understand. So, as far as I know, that was your one and only time there. And Castiel met Oliver before you and Cas had ever met. Sam took him there one time when they were trying to figure out how to remove the Mark of Cain from Dean. So, you and Castiel had been there and met Oliver on separate occasions, so he and his house would already have been in your minds when I planted those memories."

Gail shrugged. Whatever. His answers were way too glib. "Okay, then explain to me how Rowena is back from the Netherworld, then? We went there with Crowley for the final ingredient of the cure!" she exclaimed.

"Do you know for a fact that she's back on the Earth?" Metatron countered. "Has anyone actually seen her or heard from her since the day you say you released her from the Netherworld?"

Gail glanced at Cas, who gave her a half-shrug. It was true; as far as they knew, no one had heard from Rowena since the day she had mixed the cure in the bunker and then departed. But that didn't prove anything, did it? They had thought that it was rather strange that she had not been heard from. It wasn't like her to just stay away like that. But, to Gail's mind, that still didn't prove anything. It was too bad she couldn't just call up Crowley and ask him, but she was still too busy trying to figure out how to remove the knife that Crowley had stuck in her and Cas's backs to believe anything that Crowley might have to say at the moment.

Metatron was aware that Rowena actually was currently somewhere on Earth, but he did not disclose this fact because it would not serve to bolster his argument. He did not think that a human witch, even the mother of the King of Hell, would be much of a threat to an Original Angel such as Castiel. Even Gail had been able to kill Rowena, when she'd been just a novice Angel. He was unaware that it was Rowena who had been systematically poisoning Chuck against Castiel ever since she had seduced Chuck in Paris. But, for a change, there was no evil intent on Metatron's part. He was simply trying to convince the Angels of the truth of what he was saying, for their own benefit.

"What of Jason, then?" Cas said suddenly. "You claim he was murdered in Heaven's jail. Well, that would be easy enough to check. All I would have to do would be to ask Ethan about it. Although why he would not have told me already, I'm sure I do not know."

Metatron shrugged. Neither did he. He had no way of knowing that Ethan's memory had also been modified by Jason's killer, and that Jason's prison records in Heaven had been expunged. There was a much bigger conspiracy involved there, one that the Angels would also have to deal with further on down the road.

"And what about Ignatius?" Gail chimed in. "He sacrificed his Grace for the cure, and then he died. We went to his funeral!"

"Once Cas sent Ignatius to Earth and he found Felicia and her family, he wanted to stay. So he went to see Bobby, and he asked Bobby to take his Grace so that he could live with his family as a mortal. So, yes, Bobby took Ignatius's Grace, but it was never used for any cure. If you ask Bobby, I'm sure he'll tell you that the vial with Ignatius's Grace in it is locked away in Heaven somewhere. Bobby strikes me as a guy who likes to have backup. I'm sure he would have stashed it away someplace, in case of emergency. Anyway, then Ignatius just died, because that's what older humans do, sometimes."

Gail threw her hands up in frustration. "You have an answer for everything, don't you? Well, if none of that stuff ever happened, why were Cas and I separated, then?"

"Because, to the two of you, all of it was very real," Metatron said quietly. "I imagine that your mind manufactured the cure because you were desperate to transcend the situation, Gail. It was your way of fighting my modification."

She opened her mouth to retort, but then closed it again. She had a mental image of Crowley, telling her and Cas that her blade stated that she was capable of overcoming any modifications to her memory. It was crazy, but it could be true.

"And, because he had supposedly done all of those horrible things to you, you kicked him out," Metatron went on. "I imagine everyone in your circle was really puzzled when that happened. Maybe Frank asked you about it, Gail, and you used that tart tongue of yours to give him a piece of your mind. In your reality, Cas had been a monster to you, so how the hell could your own brother even ask you a question like that? So Frank would have come away confused, but figuring that ultimately, your relationship was your business. And the same thing probably happened to you with Dean, Castiel."

Cas was staring at him balefully. He remembered no such conversation. But then, suddenly, he could picture sitting in a bar with Dean, just the two of them, talking about Gail. How was she? Did she ever talk about Cas? Did she miss him? Did she seem to be open to the idea of seeing him? And Dean, taking a swig of his beer and saying that Cas should hang in there, and give her a bit more time. If Cas didn't want to tell Dean why she had kicked him out, that was fine. It was between Cas and Gail, Dean had said. But his jaw had been set when he'd said that, and Cas had known that his friend was angry at Gail. Cas had quickly assured Dean that their separation was all his fault, and that Gail was entirely blameless for it.

"I think I remember that now," Cas said dazedly. Gail looked at him sharply, and he described to her what he was recalling. Then Gail had a momentary vision of her and Sam, sitting in the kitchen of the bunker. Sam was holding her hand, asking her questions, and she was crying. But that particular scene could have happened on any number of occasions. It's not like she hadn't cried plenty in the bunker over the years, especially during that whole time. She wasn't ready to buy into any of this. It was just too unreal. Too damn convenient. Metatron was just screwing around. Cas was being too gullible.

"Then why did Cas get involved with the shelter?" she challenged Metatron.

He sighed. He'd known they were going to be resistant to what he had to say. He had put all of the juice he had into those modifications. And it only made sense that Castiel would be coming out of it first, as he had such a desperate need to believe. So did Gail, of course, but her mind was stubbornly clinging onto her anger over the entire episode. He got that.

"Please listen to what I'm saying, Gail," Metatron said patiently. "That whole thing was yours and Castiel's reality. He got involved with the shelter because he felt guilty. Because he thought that he was an abuser, he wanted to atone."

Cas thought about that. If what Metatron was saying was true, which of course he was hoping, that would make sense. He remembered telling that poor woman Valerie that he was an offender. He'd felt the need to unburden himself, and the two of them hadn't known each other, which Cas had found to be much easier. She had clearly not mentioned their conversation to Richard, though, or Cas's former boss would surely have confronted him about it. But now, Cas made another mental tick on his growing list. They were talking about the shelter. Aurielle was currently at the shelter. It should be easy enough to be able to speak with her to either confirm or deny what Metatron was alleging. If Cas had never been a Demon, then he would never have been in Hell. And if he had never been in Hell, he would not have had his encounter with Aurielle there. Hope began to rise in his chest. There were too many people that he and Gail could talk to, and compare stories with. And if all of these people were to be able to confirm what they were hearing now, would they not then have to consider that what they were hearing now was the truth? He looked at Gail, but she was shaking her head. She could see it in his face. He wanted to believe.

"What about the Pope?" she said, agitated. "You said he laid his hand on your head to take the violence out of you!"

Cas's mind raced. He was trying to recall the exact wording of his conversation with Pope Francis, and he found that he couldn't do it. Now he was confused. What was real, and what wasn't? Had he really even met the Pope when he and Gail had been separated, or was that just another false memory? When he and Gail had gone to see Pope Francis to make their confession before their wedding, the Pontiff had not acknowledged that he and Castiel had ever met prior to that occasion. Cas had not thought much about that at the time, but now that he looked back, he could almost recall that the Pope had looked puzzled when Cas had talked about his sins in that regard.

And what was Crowley's part in all of this? Was it even remotely possible that the King of Hell had just gone along with the entire charade, as it appeared that Lucifer had, just to screw with them? Because he enjoyed their suffering so much that he did not bother to enlighten them to the alleged truth that none of it had ever happened in the first place? No; that couldn't be the case, could it? Cas's mind went back, trying to replay conversations that he and Gail had had with Crowley, both with and without others from their circle having been present. He couldn't recall Crowley ever having come right out and referring to Cas as a Demon in front of anyone else. He'd only saved his snide remarks for when the three of them had been alone. Cas did remember one conversation that Crowley'd had with Bobby in the bunker where he'd alluded to Cas having "gotten away with" something, or could that have just been Cas's guilty conscience doing the remembering? His Brother liked to play little mind games; had Cas's fractured psyche merely supplied the rest?

Which led to an even bigger question: What was God's role in all of this? Or did He even have one? If the entire incident had never happened, then God would not have injected Himself into the proceedings, would He? Their friends and family wouldn't be the ones whose memories had been modified by God, or Lucifer, or anyone. The implications were huge, and the logic was dizzying. If this whole thing had been fabricated out of whole cloth, and Cas and Gail had been the only ones who had shared in the madness, then God must have just sat back and let them suffer their delusion. God had humbled His Son before, when He'd thought that Castiel had needed it. But this particular situation, if it proved to be true, was astounding. God's love was awesome, but it was also harsh, sometimes. And if their Father had wanted to send Castiel a message by allowing him to suffer, just what kind of a message had He been trying to impart to Gail? That He wanted her to feel empowered by finally standing up for herself? If that was the case, though, couldn't He have found a more compassionate way to have delivered the message than by leading her to believe that she had been a victim of domestic abuse?

Cas felt saddened by the fact that Gail had so readily been willing to believe that he was capable of such heinous acts. He would sooner kill himself than subject her to the horrible treatment that the Demon had allegedly subjected her to. But then, that was why Metatron had had to make them believe that Cas had been transformed into a monster by drinking a bastardized love potion. Then, their individual personalities and insecurities had done the rest.

Gail was appalled at the notion that her self-esteem had been so low that her mind had actually manufactured such a horrifying scenario. Did there have to be something that badly wrong with Cas in order for him to be able to love someone like her as much as he did?

And, for Cas's part, he'd believed that he must have forced himself on Gail and bullied her into staying with him. What other explanation could there be? He had believed that he was so unlovable that she would never have actually stayed with him voluntarily.

If this was the truth, it changed everything. IF it was the truth.

Cas looked at Gail. Her lips were so tightly pursed that they were almost white. She was looking at him. His expression was so forlorn. He'd allowed himself to believe.

Gail let out a frustrated breath. She strode up to Metatron, pointing a finger at his face. "If you're lying, so help me..." She couldn't even finish her sentence, because she was so worked up.

She was also very, very scared, because now she was starting to believe, too.

A minute later, the three of them appeared back in Metatron's tent. Dean rushed up to them. "Where the hell have you been?" he demanded. He glared at Metatron. "Do you need me to ice this guy, Cas? Because I'll gladly do it."

Cas smiled wearily. "That won't be necessary. But Gail and I do need to speak with you and Sam, urgently. Would you take a walk with us?" He looked at Kevin. "You may stay here and continue to study the Tablet, if you like. If you need anything, though, call me, and I will come immediately," he added pointedly. "Immediately." While Cas was on the verge of buying Metatron's story, if he received the proper corroboration, that didn't mean that he was prepared to completely drop his guard, either.

The four of them ducked out of the tent and started to walk. The snow had continued to fall, and the wind had picked up a bit.

"I was hoping the weather was gonna hold up," Dean remarked. "Nicole said they've got a scene coming up where the guys race yaks. That, I've gotta see."

"Maybe you can stunt-drive for them again," Sam said, grinning. "If you can drive an Impala, you can drive a yak, right?"

"Nicole said they take their yak racing very seriously here," Dean said, smirking. "The losers usually get eaten."

"'Roses are red, violets are blue, horses that lose are made into glue'," Sam quoted, still smiling.

"Exactly," Dean replied. "And yeah, if I was riding, there's no way my guy would be turned into yak snacks. Hey, I wonder if they get Big Yak Attacks here."

"Would you guys quit talking about stupid yaks, already?!" Gail exploded. "We need to talk to you about something way more important!"

"Then, go ahead and talk," Sam said reasonably.

Gail and Cas looked at each other. Where to begin? What could they possibly say that wouldn't sound like they'd lost their minds?

"Do you remember when I went with you to Oliver's house?" Gail asked Sam as casually as she could.

He looked at her, surprised. "The psychic?" he asked her. Gail nodded. Sam looked thoughtful. "That's going back a ways," he said. "That was shortly after you became an Angel. Why do you ask?"

Gail's heart skipped a beat. "Was that the only time I ever went there?" she asked him.

Sam looked puzzled now, but he replied, "Yeah. You and Oliver didn't exactly, uh, hit it off." He looked at Dean. "Remember?"

Dean gave a short laugh. "Yeah, I do. What a cranky old bastard. He was looking at you funny, and you told him off."

"He was looking at me funny?" she echoed.

Sam was nodding. "Oh, that's right. I forgot why the two of you argued. When we walked in the house, he started staring at you right away. I thought maybe it was because you were an Angel. When I brought Cas there before, about a year before that, Oliver was weird with him, too. Said he was an Atheist, and he didn't believe in Angels. So, it's kind of funny. I guess that's why he was so strange at the fair, too. I guess Angels freak him out, or something."

"But we sure as hell didn't expect him to be waving that gun around," Dean added.

"Why WAS he waving that gun around, anyway?" Gail asked Dean conversationally. "I don't remember."

"You don't remember?" Dean repeated incredulously. "What, have you got Angel Alzheimer's, or something?"

She gave him a thin smile. "Humour me, Dean."

"He said he didn't want to live in a world where Lucifer ruled," he replied. "Then, Sam and I hustled the girls out of there, and when we came back, the guy had shot himself, and Cas was healing him. Then he said some more weird stuff, and then he took off."

Gail looked at Cas, who was nodding. Dean's account pretty much matched Cas's recollection of the incident, except that Cas remembered Oliver having said something to the effect that he'd thought Cas was evil. But only Cas and Gail had been in the tent at the time, and if this was their shared delusion, had that part of the conversation ever taken place at all, or did he and Gail just think it had? Oliver had shot himself, not Cas. If he had truly believed that Cas was evil, would Oliver not have shot Cas instead, just as he had tried to shoot Lucifer in Los Angeles? "Did the gun he used have pentagram bullets in it?" Cas blurted out.

Sam's brow furrowed. "No, Cas. Why would it have?"

Dean smirked. "It took centuries, but you're finally going senile, Cas. You're getting that mixed up with the time he tried to kill Lucifer, in L.A."

Cas let out a frustrated breath. This was interesting, but it wasn't exactly proving anything. He decided to switch subjects. "Have Frank and I always gotten along, Dean?" he asked his friend.

Dean did a double-take. Yeah, Cas was losing it, all right. He looked at Gail. "Did you and Frank have a fight?" he asked her. "I know he was a little bit pissed about you kicking him in the knee, but it could have been worse. You could have kicked him in the - "

"It's not Gail I'm asking about, it's me," Cas interrupted Dean impatiently. "Did Frank and I ever have an argument where...I took out my blade?"

Dean laughed. "What are you, high? As if! That's a good one, Cas. I'll have to tell Frank that, when we get back home. If that had ever happened, assuming that Gail had let you live through it, Frank would have punched you right in the face. Or, I would have. What's wrong with you two?" Dean asked, including Gail in his question.

Cas and Gail looked at each other, ignoring Dean. "Do you guys remember the heist we pulled at the theology museum?" Gail asked the brothers. "That was fun, wasn't it?"

The four of them had been meandering aimlessly about, but Sam and Dean stopped walking now. They were staring at her and Cas speculatively.

"What's gotten into you guys?" Sam said, puzzled. "Did Metatron do something weird to you? When the three of you disappeared just now, where did you go?"

"I knew it," Dean fumed. "He pulled some kind of whacko crap on them." He opened his jacket, pulling a knife out of his inside pocket. "Let's go back and kill him, Sammy."

Gail grabbed Sam's arm. She was feeling very strange now, almost desperate. "Do you remember - " she started to ask him, but Sam cut her off.

"No, Gail," he said. "We're not answering anymore questions until you guys tell us what the hell's going on."

Cas was starting to get angry now, because that was his go-to response. But who was he angry at, in this situation? Gail's face was pale, and Cas was impatient now. It was time for the direct approach. He faced both of the brothers.

"Was I ever a Demon?" Cas said bluntly.

Sam and Dean looked at each other, and then they looked back at Cas, and then they started to laugh.

"OK, I think I know what's happening here," Sam said after the laughter subsided. "You guys are trying out some plotlines for the movie. Do you want to be writers now, too? Hey, if a little troll like Metatron can make it big in the film industry, maybe you guys can, too."

"Whatever the hell that museum thing you were talking about was, it sounds like it'd be good for the movie," Dean said to Gail, wiping the tears of laughter from his eyes with his hands. That had been a really good laugh. "But you, a Demon?" he said to Cas. His friend looked stricken now, and that was so funny that Dean nearly went off again. If Cas thought his being a Demon was believable, he was crazy. Maybe the actor who played him could pull it off, but Dean thought the premise was way too far-fetched. He told Cas this now.

Cas was frowning, so Sam grinned and said, "Don't feel bad, Cas. You'll always be a badass to us."

Gail's head began to swim. She was greying out now, from the shock of what she was hearing. She staggered, and Cas caught her. She looked up at his face. "It never happened?" she asked him in a small voice. And then, everything went black.


	6. Open Secrets

Chapter 6 - Open Secrets

She woke up in the bunker. Cas was sitting next to her, rubbing her wrists and arms. Hadn't he done that to her before, at some point? He'd probably seen it on TV once and thought that it was worth trying. In any event, maybe it had worked, because she was conscious now.

Had she actually fainted? What was she, a 17th-century woman with the vapours, or something? But it had just been such a shock.

Cas was looking down at her face. He broke into a relieved smile when he saw that she was conscious. "Are you all right?" he asked her.

Gail sat up slowly. Cas looked alarmed, and he put out his arms as if to restrain her, but she was fully alert now.

"Please tell me I didn't faint," she pleaded with him in a wry tone. "How embarrassing."

"Hey, you need some smelling salts over there?" Dean called out from the library area.

"I could just smack her, if you want," Frank chimed in.

"I'm conscious, smartasses," Gail retorted.

Frank grinned, approaching the couch. "I know," he said. Then his smile faded. "Seriously, are you OK? They told me you passed out. If you were still a human, I'd have told those guys to feed you something. You used to get a little light-headed when you skipped a couple of meals."

Cas was still smiling. He took Gail's hands in his. "Well, that can't be it," he said gently. "It must just be the strain of all we've been through lately."

Gail looked at Cas, wide-eyed. There was so much she wanted to ask him, but there were too many people around. It never happened? she asked him with her eyes.

Cas's eyes were shining. It never happened, he told her with his. It bore a bit more investigation, but it would appear that Metatron was actually telling the truth.

"Cas," Gail said, her voice choking with emotion. She touched his face.

"I know," he said, putting his hand over hers.

They continued to stare at each other. It never happened?! It never happened. The same three words kept running through their heads. If this was true, it changed everything. If it was true, they were finally free.

But now was not the time for that discussion. Cas squeezed her hands gently. "I hate to ask this of you right now," he said to her, "but do you feel up to helping me to banish Lucifer from Heaven?"

Gail's face brightened. "Are you kidding? Let's do it!"

"How are you gonna do that?" Frank asked Cas. Cas was helping Gail to her feet now.

"We have to take the Pope's golden candlesticks to Heaven," Cas told Gail's brother. "Two Angels will be deployed to opposite ends of Heaven, each of them holding a candlestick. They will each confess a secret at the same moment, and then Gail and I will banish him."

Frank shook his head slowly. Things were strange with otherworldly beings. Too bad they couldn't just go in there with guns blazing. He and Dean had talked about that the other night. It had been ages since they'd gotten to kill anything the old-fashioned way, and he missed it. Apparently, they had forgotten the old adage: Be very careful what you wish for, because you might just get it.

Cas frowned now. "The only problem is, once we remove the candlesticks from here and from our house, the extra layers of protection will be gone. But that shouldn't really be an issue. Everything else will still be in place. We'll just keep everyone here once Lucifer is banished, and then we'll return. Can you help to hold down the fort, Frank?"

Frank smiled. "Yeah, Cas. I always have your back. You know that." He clapped Cas on the shoulder, then looked at Gail. "Hey, take care of yourself up there," he told his sister. "But, do whatever you've gotta do. If you get close enough, kick him in the junk, just on general principles." He looked at Cas again. "Bring her back safe, buddy."

Gail looked from Cas to her brother and then back again. If it was true, Cas and Frank had never fought, way back when. If it had never happened, Frank and Cas had always been this close.

"I have to go get my blade," Gail blurted out. She rushed through the library area, down the hall, towards her and Cas's old room. It occurred to her on the way to wonder whether she could still consider it their room now. She and Cas had their house, and they didn't live here anymore. Had Sam and Dean turned the room into something else by now?

But it wasn't as if that really mattered, in this instance. Her blade wouldn't be here, of course. Cas had confiscated it back when she had been suicidal, and she didn't have it back yet. She wasn't going there for the blade; she was going there for a good cry.

A few seconds after Gail burst into their old room, inexplicably relieved to see that it was still a bedroom, she burst into tears. It never happened! She looked down at the bed. There had never been a Devil's Trap under there, because Cas had never been a Demon. He had never cut her in that bed, and she had never bled at his hands, because it had never happened.

Gail continued to cry, and a moment later Cas was there, and he put his arms around her waist from behind. She squirmed around to face him, and she saw that he was crying, too.

"It never happened, Gail," he said in a thick voice. "I never hurt you."

"Cas," she said plaintively. Now she was weeping openly. "I can't believe it. If it's true..."

"...If it's true, we just received the greatest gift of all," Cas finished for her, giving her a squeeze. "If it's true, we've gotten the most amazing Christmas gift there could ever be, for centuries to come."

She sniffled back the tears, quipping, "Yeah, and it came from Metatron, of all people. Does this mean we have to get him something, now?"

Cas laughed. "Actually, I'm already giving him a gift. I'm letting him live."

Gail kissed him softly on the cheek. "It's still so hard to believe, Cas," she said. "But, you know what? I think I do believe it. I don't care what kind of supposed potion you were given, there's no way you would ever have done such horrible things. I'm sorry, sweetie. I should have known that."

Cas frowned. "I should have, too. You know that I would die before I would ever hurt you. You know that, don't you?"

"Yes, I do, Cas. I'm sorry." She hugged him tightly. "I'm sorry," she said again.

"You have nothing to be sorry about," Cas said, kissing her forehead and stroking her hair. "You did nothing wrong." He pulled out of the embrace and looked down at her face, touching her cheek. "It's Metatron who should be sorry. If I weren't so happy that none of it had ever happened, I'd be extremely angry with him right now. Maybe we'll just kill him afterwards anyway, just on general principles."

Gail looked at Cas with wide eyes. He began to smile, and she realized that he was trying to make her smile, so she did.

"At the very least, he'll be apologizing to you properly the next time that we see him," Cas said in a more serious tone.

"Don't you mean to both of us?" she said, lifting an eyebrow.

Cas sighed. "I suppose so. But, to tell you the truth, I don't really require an apology. I'm just so happy to realize that I never hurt you."

"Me too," she said, smiling with relief.

Cas kissed her on the lips and she kissed him back, opening her mouth. Their tongues met for a moment but then they broke the kiss, looking warmly at each other for a few seconds.

"I wish we had more time right now," Cas said softly.

Gail nodded. "I know. So do I," she agreed. "But we have to go take care of Lucifer now. Give me back my blade and I'll pop over to the house and get our candlestick."

Cas opened his mouth to object, but then he closed it again. He'd been just about to tell her to stay here, that he would be the one to go, but then he stopped himself. They were about to face off against Lucifer together, and if Cas had learned anything from what they had just been discussing, he had learned that Gail should really be treated as his equal partner, in every way. She deserved his respect, as well as his love.

He reached into his jacket pocket and gave Gail her blade. He'd kept it in his pocket nestled next to his, meaning to give it back to her.

"Thanks, sweetie. I'll see you in a minute," she said. She kissed him on the cheek, then popped out.

Castiel wiped his eyes, and then he walked back to the library area. Everyone was gathered there, waiting. "I need two Angels to volunteer to come with me and Gail up to Heaven," Cas announced. He explained to the group the procedure for ejecting Lucifer from the Office, and from Heaven, as he grabbed the candlestick from the table.

Ethan raised his hand immediately. Since he was responsible for Lucifer's being there in the first place, so Ethan needed to be one of the ones to help kick him out. And he did have a secret, one he had never shared with anyone, not even Karen.

Becky also raised her hand. She was eager to do something to help the team, mainly so she wouldn't be excluded any more. She highly doubted that she would be asked to go on any of the Tablet missions, due to her lack of fighting skills, for one thing. So she was desperate to find a way to stay in the loop. She missed her friends, and she hadn't seen Sam for ages, not until Bobby had asked them all to come down here.

"OK, Ethan and Becky will come with us, and everyone else will stay here," Cas instructed. Gail popped back into the library area with their candlestick in her hand, and she crossed to where Cas stood. "With any luck, we'll see you all in a few minutes from now," Cas continued.

"I want to come, too," Chuck said suddenly.

Cas regarded him evenly. "Why?" he asked the Prophet coolly. He hadn't forgotten that Chuck was still under some sort of a spell. Although, to be fair, Chuck seemed a lot calmer now than he'd been before they'd left for Mongolia.

"I want to help," Chuck said earnestly. Now that the poison of Rowena's spell was slowly working its way out of his system, he was feeling very guilty about the way that he'd been behaving.

Cas sighed. His eyes drifted to Becky. "All right, Chuck," he said. "Go with Becky, then. When everyone is in position, let me know. When I give you the word, you can pop over to the Office and join in on the attack, if you wish. Gail and I are going to use the power connected with our blades to banish him, but the more firepower, the better."

"Sounds good," Chuck said heartily. He sounded more like his old self, and it did Gail's heart good to see that. They'd had quite enough problems lately, without Chuck being another one of them.

Their friends wished them luck, and then they popped out of the bunker.

Lucifer was sitting at the desk with the box he had found in front of him, and he was rubbing his hands together in anticipation. He'd finally found some real entertainment. These were the confidential files, the ones he'd wanted to read the most.

Castiel's and Crowley's were the thickest, of course. Lucifer hefted them both out of the box and plopped them on the desk. Then came Gail's. It was pretty thin, but not as thin as he would have expected, considering how new she was to this whole thing. Poor girl. Well, she'd only been around a short time, at least, compared to the rest of them, even if you did factor in her other brief existences. Then came Metatron's file. Lucifer rolled his eyes. No, thanks. There wouldn't be anything he could possibly see in that file that he didn't already know. The only thing he didn't know currently was where Metatron was now. But Lucifer didn't particularly care. He had obviously removed himself from the game board, and that was just fine with Lucifer. Who needed him? He tossed Metatron's file in the corner. Then he reached into the box again and took out his own, setting it to the side. The curiosity to read about himself from his Father's point of view was overwhelming. After he checked that out, though, Lucifer would definitely have to read Castiel's and Crowley's files. The more secrets he could learn about both, the better. Crowley was acting like Lucifer's ally at the moment, but Lucifer wasn't labouring under the illusion that Crowley wouldn't turn around and stab him in the back in an instant, if the little bastard thought it would ultimately benefit him to do so.

But hold on, now. There were more files in the box. There was one labelled Gospel Writers. Well, Lucifer knew all about those guys, didn't he? Probably not too much gold to be mined there, though he might have a quick look at Luke's, just in case there was something there that he could use. Luke's defiance still pissed him off, though it was probably a moot point, now. Lucifer had achieved the first step of his goal. He was in Heaven, and he was in charge. Let the Angels run around and try to get their slabs of stone, for all the good it was going to do them. He was going to stay here and read every word in the files that God had kept on Lucifer's enemies, and then, when Lucifer had learned about every weakness that Castiel and Crowley had, he would destroy them. Metatron, too, if he had the poor judgement to pop out of the gopher hole that he was in. And then, Lucifer would be untouchable.

He glanced back into the box. There were a few more files in there. Curious, Lucifer took them out and looked at the labels. Archangels, Death, The Book Of Life, Sam and Dean Winchester, Rowena, The Book Of The Dead.

Maybe Lucifer should get lovely Laurel to put a pot of coffee on, he thought with a grin. He had a lot of reading to do.

"This is just about the northernmost corner of Heaven, according to Cas," Chuck told Ethan. "Although how he knows that is beyond me. It's not like there are a lot of landmarks here. But at least it's not all pure white here, any more."

"Yeah. How come, Chuck?" Becky asked him. "Do you know why everything just burst into colour that one night?"

Chuck flashed her a brief grin. He was pretty sure that he did, but that probably wasn't something they should be talking about right now. If ever. Chuck wasn't sure if Becky was adult enough for that conversation. So he looked at Ethan, instead. "I'm going to wink Becky over to the south end," he told the young officer. "As soon as we get there, I'll give you the go-ahead, and once you and Becky tell your secrets, I'm going to zap myself over to God's office and help Cas and Gail."

Ethan nodded, clutching his candlestick tightly. He was ready.

Chuck popped Becky over to the other end of Heaven. "Keep a tight grip on your candlestick," he instructed her. It was funny; Chuck still couldn't look directly at it, though he was glad he no longer felt nauseous in its presence. When they'd been at the north end with Ethan, and both he and Becky had been holding their candlesticks so close to Chuck, he had started to feel queasy again.

But he felt better now. In a minute, they were going to boot Lucifer out of Heaven, and then Gail could safely come back. No, Cas and Gail could safely come back. Yes, that's what Chuck had meant. Both of them.

He gave Becky a thumbs-up, then sent a quick message to Cas that everyone was in position. Were he and Gail ready? "Do it," came Cas's curt reply.

Ethan held his candlestick high. "I'm sorry, Karen," he began. "I love you and our son more than anything. I'm sorry I let you down. I only wanted the two of you to be safe. But I was stupid. I don't want our son to grow up in a world where it's Lucifer who reigns in Heaven. Even if the two of you would be immortal. I hope you understand, but I have to do this now."

Ethan lifted the candlestick even higher, over his head. "My secret is that I never wanted Karen to have our son. I even thought about asking her to get an abortion. I never did ask her to do that, but I seriously thought about it. I felt like we were too young, and too poor, and we had years and years to have kids. But she went ahead and had the baby, and I kept my mouth shut about it. I was on duty when she went into labour, and by the time I got to the hospital, she'd already had him. But when they put that baby into my arms for the first time, and I looked down at him and saw that he had Karen's eyes, I fell in love with the little guy right then and there. I'm sorry, Karen. You were right, and I was wrong."

The candlestick began to glow bright gold, and Ethan continued to hold it high in the air. A beam of light shot out of one end and bounced throughout Heaven, looking for the other one.

"Go, Becky," Chuck told her.

Becky held her candlestick up. "My secret is that I love Sam Winchester, with all my heart. When he rejected me a few years ago, I killed myself and went to Hell."

Chuck sighed. He'd known that, of course. Chuck had been so preoccupied with himself and his own problems that he hadn't stopped to think much about poor Kevin. Becky should be ashamed of herself. She could love whoever she wanted, but she had used both Chuck and Kevin to get near the object of her affections, and that wasn't right.

But, wait. Nothing was happening. Shouldn't something be happening? Chuck sent a quick message to Ethan. What's the holdup? Ethan wanted to know. The beam of light continued to shine out of the end of his candlestick, and now, it was shaking in his hand. Let's go, Chuck, Ethan said. I'm having a hard time hanging on.

Why wasn't there anything happening on Becky's end? Chuck nearly slapped his forehead. Of course.

"I already knew," he said to Becky. She looked at him, wide-eyed. "Your so-called secret," Chuck continued. "And I'm not the only one. I hate to tell you this, Becky, but it's pretty much common knowledge. No wonder this isn't working. Here, give me that thing."

Chuck snatched the candlestick out of her hand. He had tons of secrets. He should have just offered to do this in the first place, but he'd wanted so badly to help kick Lucifer's ass, most of all for his recent torture of Gail.

But something was happening now, all right. The candlestick was burning his hand. "Owww!" Chuck yelled. He tried to drop it, but he couldn't. Then he tried to pry it out with his other hand, but all that did was burn that hand, too.

"Mother - !" Chuck started to exclaim, but then he remembered where he was and what he was holding, and he stopped himself. He smiled weakly at Becky. "Sorry."

She shrugged nervously. She'd heard way worse on those videos that she and Kevin used to watch on MTV. What concerned her more was Chuck's reaction to holding the candlestick. She could tell that it was hurting him to do so. And Chuck had been acting really weird lately. In a rare flash of brilliant insight for her, Becky had put two and two together and concluded quite correctly that the candlestick was hurting Chuck that way because he had some evil intent. And what really scared her about that the most was that when she had been holding the candlestick herself, for a moment there, it had felt very, very warm in Becky's hand.

As soon as Becky had told her "secret", Chuck had sent Cas the message, advising him. Cas and Gail held their blades at the ready. If they both went after Lucifer with everything they had, Metatron had assured them, they could drive the Devil out of here once the secrets were told. But Cas was hoping for even more. If he could blast a few more holes in Lucifer this time, as he'd successfully done the last time they'd faced off, and then Gail could add some of her golden laser beams, they might really do some serious, lasting damage.

So as soon as Cas received the word, he thrust out his arms and blew open the office door. He wanted to make a statement.

Lucifer looked up from his reading. "Well, well, if it isn't the teary-eyed twins. You know, I'm really starting to think that you're both the twisted kind of people who enjoy suffering and misery. Why else would you keep coming around to see me?" He dropped the file he'd been holding and swung his legs off the desk. "That offer of a threesome still stands, by the way," he said, smirking.

Castiel and Gail slowly entered the office, blades drawn, as Lucifer stood and walked around the desk to face them. "But you have me at a disadvantage," Lucifer said smoothly. His mind was working furiously now. What the hell were these two trying to pull with this stunt? Castiel was much too full of himself to commit suicide this way, and there was no way he would have brought his little honey here to be a sacrifice for Satan. So what did the Angels have in mind?

He looked at Cas. "Surely you haven't caught the suicide bug, too? How much fun is that, eh, Cas?" But then he frowned. The fact that she was here waving her blade at Lucifer instead of at home, sticking her blade in herself, meant that they had spoiled his trick somehow. That was really too bad. He'd been hoping to milk that one for a while. And he hadn't even had the chance to get to Castiel's file yet.

Cas glanced at Gail. "Now," he said to her, and she said the Enochian word that armed her blade. She pointed it at Lucifer, and the first beam missed him and hit the wall behind him. A thumbnail-sized hole appeared there.

"That will be you, in a moment," Cas said to Lucifer. He held his blade high. "I hereby banish thee," he said dramatically, thrusting the blade towards Lucifer. But nothing happened.

Lucifer started to smile. "Is that all you've got? Dammit, you two are cute. I think I'll get Crowley to conjure up some chains so that I can keep you here as my pets."

Why wasn't it working? Cas thought frantically. Had Metatron set them up to be killed?

The candlestick was burning the flesh off of Chuck's hand now, but he was determined to do it. He'd had a flash of a vision of the scene in the High Office, and he knew that what they had done had not worked. But Becky's so-called secret had turned out to be something that was pretty much common knowledge, though no one ever spoke to it. It was what Frank and Gail would have called an Elephant. Chuck had to take over, or Cas and Gail were dead.

So, despite the excruciating pain, Chuck thrust the candlestick high in the air and said, "Ever since I got back from Paris, I've had an overwhelming urge to kill Cas, and screw Gail," he confessed. Becky made a face. Ewww. Disgusting. Chuck was like Gail's brother or something, and he was supposed to be their friend. But Becky hadn't heard anything yet.

"I met a woman in Paris who I didn't even know, but she let me do all kinds of things to her in bed," Chuck continued. "And I asked her to do all kinds of things to me. And most of that was good. You could even argue that all of it was. We were both consenting adults, and at least it curbed my jealousy of Cas and Gail, for a short time, anyway. But a lot of the things that Desiree did to me were kind of messed up, and they were things I would never, ever ask Gail to do. Desiree tied me up and dripped hot candle wax on me, and then she licked it off. It burned like hell, but it felt fantastic, too. So, there. There's my dirty little secret. Kick his ass, Cas. I don't want to kill you any more; I just want to kill Lucifer."

He lifted the candlestick high into the air and the golden beam of light shot out of its tip. The beam bounced around a few walls and then it found its mate, the other beam coming from Ethan's candlestick. When both of the beams joined, all of Heaven was bathed in a bright glow.

Gail pointed her blade at Lucifer again. "Try it again, Cas," she said, raising her voice. There was a sudden gust of wind that had come in the open office door, and it had pinned Lucifer against the desk. Cas lifted his blade and shouted, "On behalf of all of the Angels in Heaven, we banish thee!" He and Gail advanced on Lucifer, shooting gold and blue rays out of their blades at him. He was screaming in agony now.

And then, he was gone.

The beams of light extinguished themselves and Ethan and Chuck lowered their candlesticks, looking at them in awe. Wow. The power that had emanated from these ordinary-looking objects was unbelievable.

Ethan sent the first message to Cas: Had it worked? Oh, please, let it have worked.

Chuck was speechless for a moment. He kept staring at the candlestick. What a wonderful, holy object. For the first time in forever, possibly in his whole life, Chuck felt completely pure of heart now. He was an Angel who had just helped kick Lucifer out of Heaven. Again. That was who he really was, not the perverted sleazeball that he had let himself become. He could see everything clearly now. Everything. He added his pleas to Ethan's, and a moment later, Becky joined in.

Cas and Gail stood looking at each other for a moment, and then they began to smile. It had worked! He was gone! They had driven the Devil out of Heaven. But as they rushed towards each other and shared an embrace, their friends' voices became so loud in their heads that they couldn't ignore their cries any more.

"We'll be right there," Cas said. He took Gail's hand tenderly and looked at her, his blue eyes shining. He was so proud of her. They had faced Lucifer together and she had stood tall, helping Castiel to banish the Devil as an equal partner.

Cas winked them over to where Ethan was, and then they winked the young Angel over to where Chuck and Becky were.

"It worked," Cas announced to their friends. "Thank you for your help."

"I think we really hurt him, too," Gail said happily. "He was screaming in pain before he left." It wasn't entirely Angelic of her, maybe, but Gail was ecstatic that Lucifer had been the one to suffer that kind of pain for a change. She only wished they'd been able to kill him, but she doubted very much that he was dead. Probably just somewhere licking his wounds. But now that she'd seen that they actually had gotten to him, she had hope.

"Thank God he's gone," Ethan said, breathing a huge sigh of relief. "It was me, Cas. I was the one who made it possible for him to enter. I'm so sorry."

Castiel gave him a sharp glance, but he said nothing. He'd actually figured as much. Maybe he and Ethan would have a private chat about that later, but Cas wasn't going to admonish Ethan in front of everyone right now. Everything had worked out in the end, with minimal damage done to Heaven. Cas knew how persuasive Lucifer could be. Even though Ethan had a very responsible position in Heaven, Castiel reminded himself that his friend was still very young, and he hadn't been an Angel all that long. If Castiel himself could be taken in by Lucifer, he supposed he shouldn't condemn Ethan for the same thing.

But Cas did have an idea, something else that Ethan could do to help. "Could you do something for us?" he asked their friends. "Well, for Bobby, more accurately. Could you check in with Patricia, and see how she's doing? She'll probably want to receive assurance that he's fine, too. They won't be able to communicate with each other directly, now that he's a human again."

"Sure, Cas," Becky said. She took Ethan's hand. "I'll take you to see her. She's my supervisor. Then, if she asks me why I'm not working, I can tell her that I have a really good excuse, for a change." She smiled, and Ethan smiled back.

"I'll take that candlestick back now, please," Cas said to Ethan, and the young Angel handed it over. Then he and Becky winked out.

Chuck handed his to Gail, then he checked the palm of his hand. But even though the pain had been beyond excruciating, as soon as his confession had been made, the agony had stopped. The skin on his hand was intact, but Chuck was extremely embarrassed now, anyway.

He looked at his friends. "I'm really sorry, you guys. Gail, you know I don't...and Cas..." He stumbled on his words.

"We know you were under some kind of a spell, Chuck," Gail told him, putting her hand on his arm.

"Yeah, I was, and the candlestick cured me," Chuck told them. "I feel great now. But I also feel terrible about doing that stuff to you, Gail. You know I would never do anything as horrible as that if I was in my right mind." He made a face.

Gail's lips twitched. "Now I'm almost feeling insulted. Cas doesn't seem to think kissing me is so horrible," she quipped.

"Please don't joke right now, Gail. I'm trying to apologize to you, and to you too, Cas," Chuck said earnestly.

"OK, Chuck. Okay," Gail said.

"We accept your apology, Chuck," Cas said, extending his hand for Chuck to shake. Chuck took it gratefully, letting out a relieved breath.

Gail kissed Chuck softly on the cheek. "Forgiven, and forgotten," she said. But, she just couldn't resist: "Sorry, I hope that kiss didn't make you want to throw up, or anything."

Chuck looked at her for a moment, and then his face broke into a smile. "How do you do it, Cas?" he asked Gail's husband. "Doesn't she drive you nuts, sometimes?"

Cas smiled. "Sometimes," he agreed, "but it's the most enjoyable drive I've ever taken."

The three of them looked at each other warmly for a moment, and then Chuck sighed. "Desiree was a witch. I know that now. She obviously hexed me, somehow." Then it occurred to him. "The sculpture! She gave me a small statue of the Eiffel Tower. She said it was a souvenir. I've got it on the front desk in the library, and I've been spending almost all of my time there, up until just recently, when I was at the bunker. Do you think it could have something to do with that?"

"I think that could very well be it," Cas said. He and Gail exchanged a look. They were both remembering Metatron, saying the spell had something to do with Paris. "Let's go over to the library and have a look," Cas suggested.

They popped over there, and Chuck lingered by the doorway. "You go," he said to Cas, making a face. "I don't even want to get near that thing again."

Gail stayed standing beside Chuck as Cas walked over to the front desk. She'd always loved the library, but the last time she was here, Chuck was pawing at her and Lucifer was torturing the crap out of her. Not exactly an experience that made you want to join the Book of the Month Club. Boy, she hoped that what she and Cas had done to Lucifer a little while ago had hurt, a lot.

Cas walked over to the desk and picked up the sculpture, hefting it in his hand. Yes, it was definitely a magical object; he could tell that just by touching it. Metatron had been correct. Cas brought the sculpture down and smashed it, hard, against the corner of the desk. The statue broke, and the hex bag fell out. Cas picked it up and showed it to Chuck and Gail.

Chuck's heart dropped into his stomach. Dammit! He should have known! A beautiful woman approaches him out of the blue, a perfect stranger. She lets him do all of those twisted things to her in bed, not to mention all the things that she had done so enthusiastically to him, and he's not going to be suspicious? He should have figured she had an agenda.

Cas began to get angry. Chuck had exposed them all to danger by letting his libido overcome his common sense. Cas squeezed the hex bag in his fist. And Chuck had had the nerve to kiss Gail, and pull a blade on Cas? Who the hell did he think he was?

"You thought you could kill me, and take my place?" Cas said to Chuck angrily. "You? Kill me? I'd like to see you try."

Gail let out a frustrated breath. Now the stupid spell was getting to Cas! "Put the bag down on the desk, please," she said to him.

Cas's eyes flashed briefly, but he did as she asked. She took out her blade and pointed it at the bag, and an instant later, the beam of light came out of her blade and ignited the hex bag. It burned brightly for a moment, and then it disintegrated.

Cas looked at her. "Have I told you lately how wonderful you are?" he asked his wife.

Gail shook her head. "No," she said, smiling. Cas returned to where she and Chuck stood and put his arms around her. "Well then, it's time that I did," he said. He kissed her on the lips, and she smiled.

"I'd tell you you're terrific too, but I don't want Cas to beat the crap out of me," Chuck piped up, and Gail laughed.

But Cas was frowning again now. That hex bag had looked all too familiar, and the magic had been very strong. "Can you describe Desiree, Chuck?" he asked their friend.

Cas's blood ran cold when Chuck said, "Long, red hair. Short. Very petite. And believe it or not, she had a Scottish brogue. I teased her about it. How could she have a name like Desiree with an accent like that? She changed the subject pretty quickly." Oh, she had changed the subject, all right. She had pinched him, hard, and told him not to ask questions that were none of his business.

Gail looked at Cas, wide-eyed. Rowena? But Metatron had just finished telling them that there had been no Demon period, and no cure. Then how could Rowena be here on Earth? What was true, and what was not? Her head began to spin.

Cas took her hand again, and he gave it a brief squeeze now. They would have to figure that out, somehow. Why did it seem like they could never have even one moment to enjoy a victory? He and Gail had been over the moon, having been convinced that the worst thing that had ever happened to them had never even happened at all. But now, Chuck seemed to be telling them that it had been Rowena who had seduced him, and then hexed him into having murderous feelings towards Castiel. It was all just too coincidental, wasn't it? What the hell was really going on here?

Laurel walked into the High Office, shaking her head at the mess. But she was smiling, too.

Laurel had been in Patricia's office talking quietly to her friend when Becky and Ethan had come in and given them the good news.

"He's gone?" Patricia had asked them in a hushed voice. "Are you sure?"

Sure they were sure, Ethan had confirmed. He told the women about Cas and Gail's bravery, and how they had banished Lucifer from the Office. "Thank God they came back," Becky remarked.

Patricia had been looking down at her desk, tears starting to form in her eyes, but now she looked up sharply. "Came back?" she repeated. "What do you mean?"

"It doesn't matter," Ethan said quickly. "The only that matters is, they were here when it counted."

"Yes, but where were they when he came bursting in on me and Bobby in the first place?" Patricia said quietly. As if she couldn't figure that out.

"They were at home," Ethan replied. "They'd just gotten back from Paris, from what I understand. It was a long mission, and apparently, they were disconnected for a few hours. But Bobby wouldn't have been able to call them for help, anyway. He's a human now."

"That's why Cas asked us to stop by and see you," Becky added brightly. "Bobby wanted to make sure you were all right. Wasn't that sweet of him? We'll tell him you're doing just fine, when we get back to Earth." Then she looked at Laurel. "It sounds like Bobby's office might be in a bit of a mess, though. And, Cas said he actually knocked the door down. You might want to check on that." As far as Becky was concerned, now that Lucifer was gone, it was a mere matter of housekeeping. She had not stopped to concern herself with exactly how Bobby was supposed to return to an office in Heaven when he was now a human.

Laurel stood from her chair. That thought HAD actually occurred to her, but that was a matter for the senior Angels to sort out. But the least she could do was clean up a little in the meantime. Maybe even have the place fumigated, as well. She smiled. "I'll see you soon, Patricia," Laurel said. She'd been worried about her colleague, but now that Lucifer was gone, they could all relax again. Hopefully, Cas could figure out a way for Bobby to come back soon. Patricia had confided to Laurel a while back that she was sweet on Bobby, and that she was pretty confident that he liked her, too. She and Laurel had bonded over their fondness for Bobby. After Lucifer had stormed into Heaven and taken over, Laurel had snuck away from her post as soon as she was able, and she had stayed here with Patricia. Laurel's friend had seemed very edgy, and she was tight-lipped about what, if anything, had happened when she'd been alone with Lucifer in Bobby's office. Laurel was her friend, and she wanted to be available in case Patricia needed to talk about it. But now that he was gone, she was glad that they could just put the whole incident behind them.

"I guess we'd better get back to the bunker and make our report to Bobby, then," Ethan said, and he, Becky and Laurel left Patricia's office.

Patricia sat there staring at the wall for quite a while after the other Angels left. So, Lucifer was gone. Well, thank God for that, anyway. At least she wouldn't have to live in fear any more. She'd been deathly afraid of looking up from her desk to see his grinning face or walking down the corridor and bumping into him. When Laurel had come to her office, it had been a little easier to breathe, but Patricia knew that if Lucifer wanted to, he could easily overpower both women. Like he'd overpowered Patricia, in Bobby's office.

Once Bobby had been sent away and Lucifer had Patricia alone, he had grabbed her, grinning his awful grin, spouting his filthy insinuations, and she had slapped him across the face. Then his eyes had flashed red, and he had curled his hands into fists. She had closed her eyes tight, anticipating the blow. But he had not struck her. In retrospect, she wished that he had. She wished she'd been able to put up more of a struggle. But he had immobilized her, and then he'd torn at her clothing. Patricia had screamed, and she had also called out loudly on Angel Radio for Castiel to please come, please help her. He was the only Angel she knew of that she thought might stand a chance against Lucifer. But Castiel hadn't come, and then Lucifer was brutally raping her, and she was begging him to stop, pleading to Castiel for rescue, screaming, sobbing, and Castiel never came.

The pencil Patricia had been holding in her hand snapped in two. Ethan's voice was echoing in her head. "They were disconnected," he had said. He and his bride had just gotten back from Paris, on a "long mission", and they had "disconnected" for "a few hours". Patricia could read between the lines. Castiel and Gail were newlyweds. They had shut everything off for a few hours to do what newlyweds would do in the bedroom of their nice new house, and it was Patricia who had paid the price. While they were starting out their brand new lives as a married couple, Lucifer had been ending Patricia's, in Bobby's office.

"I warned him," she muttered out loud. "I told Bobby that all those two care about is their own pleasure, and the hell with everyone else. Look at the way they behaved at her brother's wedding. Shameful. Disgraceful. But did Bobby do anything about it? No! They strut around here like they own Heaven, but they spend most of their time on Earth, indulging in Earthly pleasures. Pleasures? They're Sins, that's what they are! Now, look at where we are! Look at the state of Heaven now! I was led to believe that we were making progress, but we were really being led down the path of Sin! New laws, indeed. All SHE wanted the new laws for was for the ability to fornicate with a clear conscience! And then she brought alcohol into the boardroom to celebrate her Sin! I confess, I participated in Heaven's corruption. I thought that if Bobby approved it, then it must be all right. But then, Castiel vowed obedience to Gail at their ceremony, and everyone thought it was so wonderful. So modern. But, what came next? They opened the door to Lucifer himself with their wicked, sinful ways, didn't they? Just because they've driven him out now, well, that's too late to do ME any good, isn't it? Now Castiel can just waltz in there and take over the Office, and no one will say a word, because everyone thinks he's Heaven's hero. But he's just a selfish, spoiled brat, and his wife is nothing but a slut!"

She had been worrying the pencil once more, and the pieces she was holding split in two again. What was wrong with her? Castiel and Gail were her friends. Weren't they? Or WERE they? Then where had they been in her darkest time of need? "Disconnected".

Well, thanks to them, Patricia was now "disconnected". Every time she looked around Heaven now, all she could feel was bitterness and resentment. The Devil had soiled her, and as she'd been crying and begging for deliverance, Heaven's Golden Couple had been on Earth, indulging in their own carnal appetites. At least, Gail was a willing participant when it had come to hers, Patricia thought bitterly. Lucifer had hurt her very badly, and now all she could hear when the room was quiet was his laughter, and his filthy language. And now, all she could see and hear in her mind was Castiel and Gail laughing, too.

She took one of the jagged pieces of the pencil she was holding and began to scratch her own arm with it, still staring at the wall. Even when her arm began to bleed, she didn't stop. It seemed to be the only thing she could think of to do to silence the sounds of their laughter in her head.

Laurel stood in the High Office and looked around. Boy, Becky hadn't been kidding. What a mess. The door was laying on the floor, where it had fallen after Cas had busted it open. Laurel smiled. She'd seen that once before, on another very joyous occasion. That could be easily fixed; in fact, Laurel could probably do it herself. She was pretty handy with a hammer.

But first, there were files strewn all over the desk, and there was even one laying haphazardly in the corner on the floor. And she could tell from the way that they were labelled and colour-coded that those were the Top Secret files. She'd better get those locked up right away; otherwise, anybody could just wander in here and see them. How the hell had Lucifer gotten his hands on those? Even Bobby hadn't been able to get into that particular cabinet when he'd been here in the Office.

Laurel gathered up the files and started putting them back in the box. Her eyes widened as she looked at the labels. There were files on everyone of importance here, and some of them were quite thick. It stood to reason that Castiel's and Crowley's would be so; they had been around since the very beginning of it all. But, what were The Book Of Life, and the Book Of The Dead?

It was so tempting to take a peek. As far as Laurel knew, she would be the only one besides God Himself to have ever seen what was contained in these files. Although maybe Lucifer had seen now, too, depending on how far he had gotten in his reading before Cas and Gail had so rudely interrupted him. She grinned. She wished she'd been here to see Lucifer's face when he'd been kicked out of Heaven. Thank God he hadn't had the chance to do any lasting damage while he'd been here.

But she didn't open the files, of course. She just put them all back in the box and closed the lid. Laurel wasn't God, and she was pretty sure that most of that stuff was none of her business. She hadn't been God's receptionist this long by sticking her nose in where it didn't belong. She'd been here in support of two different administrators now. Three, if you counted Xavier. Laurel was a good Angel, and she was a loyal employee.

She locked the box back in the hidden cabinet, then resumed cleaning up the office.

They were all back at the bunker now, and everyone was smiling, happy that Lucifer had been driven out of Heaven.

Dean broke out the booze and nearly everyone partook, even a few of the Angels. Ethan accepted a beer from Frank. He needed an outlet after having been through the gamut of emotions today.

"I'll take a rye and ginger," Gail said, plopping herself down in her usual chair before Cas had the chance to get there. She'd been through quite a bit of stuff herself over the past day or so.

Dean looked at her. "What's wrong with your legs?" he asked her.

"Hey, I just helped banish Lucifer from Heaven," she retorted. "I believe the words you're searching for are 'Thank you'."

Sam grinned. "Allow me," he said, pouring her a drink.

"May I have one of those too, Sam?" Cas said, surprising everyone. He motioned to Dean. "Can I talk to you in private for a moment?"

The two men walked down the hallway. "I need to ask you a couple of questions, Dean, and I need for you to be very honest with me," Cas said gravely. "I don't care if what you have to say hurts my feelings. I don't even care if what you have to say is...less than complimentary, when it comes to Gail. I just need you to tell me the brutal, unvarnished truth. Will you promise to do that, Dean?"

Dean looked sidelong at him. "As long as you promise not to punch me in the face," he said half-jokingly. "I just started on solid foods again."

But Cas was in no mood to joke around. This was really bothering him now. Who was telling the truth, and who was lying? "When you told myself and Gail what you told us in Mongolia, were you telling us the truth?"

Dean frowned. "How can you even ask me a question like that, Cas? What the hell?"

"So you weren't just saying that for Sam's benefit?" Cas persisted.

Dean was mystified now. "Sam? What's he got to do with anything?"

Cas ignored the question. "Dean, is Rowena back on the Earth?"

Dean stopped walking and faced his friend. "What?!" he exclaimed. "Where the hell did THAT come from?"

Cas stopped walking too, and he sighed. "Please, just answer the question, Dean."

His friend smirked. "That bitch with a 'w'? If she was somehow alive again, I'm sure we would have known about it by now. Crowley would have been whining about it, or she would have been trying to kill him. Right?"

Cas didn't smile. Was Rowena Desiree, or wasn't she? Could it have been a different woman? But, a petite redhead with a Scottish accent? No. It was just too much of a coincidence. But if there had been no Demon period, and no cure, then how had Rowena returned from the Netherworld?

He looked at Dean. "Would you come to the weapons room with me for a moment?" Cas asked his friend. Dean was extremely puzzled now, but he traipsed along behind Cas. Cas was acting even more weird than usual, but the weapons room was one of Dean's favourite rooms, and he knew Cas well enough by now to realize that he would get to the point. Eventually.

When they got there, Cas started rooting around on the table, looking for the gun that they had recovered from Oliver at the fair.

"What are you doing, Cas?" Dean asked him, curious.

Cas told him what he was looking for, and Dean said, "Oh, yeah. That was the same gun Gail insisted we take to the mansion. The one I used to shoot Lucifer multiple times with, for no apparent reason. That's the first time I've ever seen one of her intuitions miss. I thought it was weird that she wanted us to bring an ordinary gun to a fight with the Devil." He had been rooting around on the opposite end of the table, and now he saw the gun they'd been talking about. "This one."

Cas looked at the gun in Dean's hand. "Yes, that's the one. It should still have a couple of bullets in it, should it not? You didn't empty it when we were at the mansion."

Dean nodded. "Yeah, there were a couple left. When we got home, I emptied the gun and locked the bullets up with the others. Ever since Robbie came to stay here, we don't keep anything sitting around loaded." He leaned forward, talking more quietly. "Don't tell Jody and Frank, but I keep a loaded gun by my bed, and I know Sam does, too. But Robbie knows better than to go into our rooms without our okay. I just need to have something nearby, if you know what I mean."

Cas nodded. He certainly did. That was why his blade was in his blazer pocket at all times, within easy reach. The rare times he hadn't had it with him, Cas had felt very vulnerable. He'd even had it on him at Frank and Jody's wedding. The only day he hadn't carried it, and hadn't missed it, was his own wedding day. That day had been so glorious that he had not thought about it once. But otherwise, it was like an extension to his own arm now, so he could hardly fault the Winchesters for feeling the same way.

But he was at a loss now as to how to proceed. "Where are the bullets now?" he asked Dean after a moment.

"They're in the cabinet," Dean said, gesturing. "But before you ask, don't worry. We're loaded for bear. We've got hundreds and hundreds of bullets in there. Looks like we might have to make some wooden stakes, too. Maybe you should get your good buddy the Pope to bless a few more things. I know it's a cliche, but we are going to Transylvania, right?"

Cas gave him a thin smile. Hundreds of bullets. Great. Talk about a needle in a haystack. Cas now strongly suspected that the bullets in that gun hadn't been pentagram bullets at all. That would certainly explain why Lucifer hadn't even reacted to having been shot with them at close range. And if that was the case, it was partial corroboration for Metatron's tale. Cas should probably take the time to go through the bullets, though, just to be sure.

Dean put his hand on Cas's shoulder and then replaced the gun on the table. "Let's go have a drink," Dean said to his friend. He didn't even particularly care why Cas was asking about that gun right now. Their side had had an all-too-rare victory today, and it was time to celebrate.

Suddenly, Gail appeared in the doorway.

"Oh look, it's the old ball and chain," Dean said, smirking. "We're coming, we're coming. Geez, you two can't be apart for two minutes, can you?"

But Gail didn't offer a retort, and she wasn't smiling. "Cas, your phone rang, so I answered it," she said quietly.

Cas looked at her, surprised, and then he remembered. When they'd first come back here from Heaven, he had taken his phone out of his pocket to see if it needed to be charged. He might have otherworldly powers, but his cell phone didn't, and Cas wanted to make sure that he was accessible at all times now. Even though he knew there was nothing they could have done about it at the time, Cas still felt guilty about being unreachable when Lucifer had first stormed into Heaven. Now that one more of their number was a human, he was determined to at least keep his phone on. He'd seen that it needed to be recharged, so he had asked Sam for a charger, and he'd left it plugged in on the library table to charge while he came down here with Dean.

Cas could see the expression on Gail's face, and his heart sank. He knew that look. "What's wrong, my love?" he asked her.

"It was Henri, calling from Paris," she said, walking towards the men. Cas automatically put his arm around her waist when she got to his side.

Dean smiled. "How's Henry - ?" He stopped, seeing the frown on Gail's face.

"He's in the hospital, and he's dying," Gail told them sadly. "He wanted to know if he could see the four of us for a few minutes."

Dean cursed softly. Poor Henry. It was always something, wasn't it?

The three of them came out to the library. Sam was standing waiting for them. Cas nodded towards his cell phone, which was still on the table. "If my phone should ring, someone please answer it. Any one of the Angels can reach myself or Gail on Angel Radio if there's an emergency." He frowned. "We'll be back very soon."

"What's the password on your phone?" Frank asked.

Cas's brow wrinkled. "I don't have a password, Frank. Just swipe the screen."

Frank shook his head slowly. Cas. If this wasn't such a sad moment, he had about a million jokes running through his head about hijacking Cas's phone and putting all kinds of bad stuff on it. But now was not the time. Gail had told all of them what the call had been about.

Cas and Gail took Sam and Dean's hands and winked their friends to Paris.

Henri had told Gail the address of the hospital and given her his room number, so the Angels were able to wink Sam and Dean directly into his room.

Their friend was sitting up in bed, looking gaunt and pale. Gail's eyes grew wide. How long had it been since they'd seen him? Not that long, yet it looked like he had lost about 40 pounds, and his complexion was almost grey.

He'd seen them appear, and he smiled weakly. How fortunate he was to have made the acquaintance of real Angels. Henri had always had faith but knowing that it was all true was going to make his transition a lot easier.

They approached his bedside, and Gail's eyes were already glistening with tears. Henri was in the Oncology Ward. She knew what that meant.

"Aww now, don't cry, little lady," Henri said to Gail. She sat on the edge of the bed and took his hand gently.

"How long have you been sick, Henri?" Cas asked him in a soft voice.

"A while, Cas," Henri told him.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Sam asked, his brow furrowed.

"And why would I have done that, Sam?" Henri said calmly. "There was nothing you could have done. Even you, Cas. Oui?"

Cas nodded. "Yes, Henri. Unfortunately, that is true."

"Is there anything we can do for you?" Dean asked Henri, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot.

Henri gave him a gentle smile. "Yes, there is, in fact, Dean. A couple of things, actually. First of all, when we're done here, I want Cas and Gail to wink you over to my house. There's a very old bottle of brandy in my liquor cabinet. I want you and Sam to take it. I believe it would be quite valuable if you were to sell it, but I would prefer it if you just kept it and drank its contents, on an occasion of your choosing. Maybe make a toast to world peace on my behalf, or something. Consider that my gesture of appreciation for what you did here."

The brothers exchanged glances. They still felt like they hadn't really done anything. But it was obvious that Henri didn't have much longer, and they didn't want to disagree with a dying man.

As if reading their thoughts, Henri grimaced in pain. Gail was alarmed. "Do you want me to call someone?" she asked him, starting to rise from the bed.

"Non, Gail," Henri replied. "I won't keep the four of you long. I'll ring for the nurse to give me my shot after you're gone. I wanted to be alert when I saw the four of you." He gestured to Cas. "Cas, could you come here, please?"

Cas approached the bed, and Henri took his hand. "I'd like you to hear my confession," Henri said to him.

Cas was stricken. "Me? Why me?" he asked Henri.

"Because you're an Angel, and because you were a very good friend to me," Henri said. "Because you did what needed to be done, when no one else would. And because I know that the colour of my skin doesn't matter to you, or to any of you here." He made a gesture to include Gail and the Winchesters. "Sam, can you please close the door to my room? Then, if you'll all gather around, I'll tell you what I need to tell you before the pain gets to be too much."

Once Sam had closed the door, Henri shifted in the bed, trying to sit up straighter. Gail helped to adjust the pillows behind him and he looked at her gratefully. Then Henri squeezed Cas's hand.

"I killed Kurt," Henri said without preliminary. "I saw him on the street one day, and I followed him to his house and shot him with my gun."

Dean gave a small fist pump. "Attaboy, Henry."

Henri smiled weakly. He looked up at Cas. "I was hoping that won't deny my entry into the Kingdom. I never killed anyone before. If I thought it would help, I might say I'm sorry, but I don't want to compound the problem by lying."

Cas smiled grimly. "I can't see that being a problem, Henri. But, the way things are right now, you won't be able to ascend right away. You'll go to the Garden, first."

"The Garden?" Henri echoed, puzzled. "What's that?"

"It's a great place," Sam told him. "You'll like it. Woods, trees, fresh, clean water. We've all been there before."

Gail nodded. "It is very serene there. If you're looking for Vegas-type excitement, you'll be disappointed, but it'll be a nice place to wait, until you can ascend."

Henri looked at her, then at Cas. "How are you two doing?" he asked Gail. "Are you happy together?"

"So happy, Henri," Gail confirmed, surprised by his insight. Cas took her hand with his free hand and gave it a squeeze. Then he let her hand go and focused on Henri. "Thank you for asking about us, Henri, but it's you we're concerned with right now. But yes, we're very happy. And I'm sure you'll be seeing us again, soon. When the time comes, we'll be seeing you in Heaven."

Henri let out a breath. "That's fine by me. I'm ready to go, Cas. Because of what we did here, I have closure now. I went to my grandparents' graves after you all left here. I laid flowers and told them everything. I also told them I'd be seeing them soon in the Kingdom of Heaven. I hope I wasn't fibbing about that part."

"I'm sure you weren't," Cas told him. "When you ascend, I'll take you to their house personally." Then he looked at Gail. "I apologize, my love. Gail and I will take you. We'd love to meet your grandparents."

"So would Dean and I, one day," Sam chipped in. "And when you do see him, please say thanks to your granddad for his service."

Henri smiled warmly. "I will, Sam. Thank you for that. I can't wait to tell them about you boys. They'll be happy to know that I made the acquaintance of some good folks here, who just happen to be white."

"It's too bad we couldn't have gotten Benoit, too," Cas said, frowning. "But hopefully, with no one to follow him, he won't be of any harm any more. We'll keep our eye on the news, though, and if we see anything come up involving him, I can always come back and finish the job."

"Thank you, Cas," Henri said. "How is young Paul, by the way? Was he able to ascend?"

"We don't know, Henri," Cas replied truthfully. "He may well be in the Garden, also. Or, he may be at one of the other way stations. It'll take a while for everything to get sorted out. Once we finish our current mission, that'll be attended to, I can assure you." But now, Cas was obfuscating. He was doubtful that Paul would have gone straight to the Garden. Even though Paul had done a good thing here in Paris, he had been a Demon for a reason. Cas was of the opinion now that Paul might well be in Purgatory, waiting for a disposition on his soul. But until Heaven had a God, there was no one with the authority to make these kinds of decisions. There was no need to share all of that with Henri, though. That was mere politics. Henri was in quite a bit of pain now; it was evident on his face. They should let him get his shot, and then get some rest.

Now Gail was thinking about Paul, and about Lise, too. Poor Lise. She had been forgotten in this whole conversation. But Gail had not forgotten about her. She asked Cas about Lise now.

"She's probably in the Garden, too," Cas confirmed. "I don't think she had any evil intent. She was bullied and brutalized by Etienne, and when she had a choice to make, she chose to harm herself, rather than anyone else. That should count for something."

They were all silent for a moment. Then Cas put his hand on Henri's forehead. "We'll be going now, Henri. Please, ring for your shot, and get some rest."

"I'll be seeing you, Cas," Henri said, smiling wryly. "Probably sooner, rather than later. But, that's OK. I'm at peace now, thanks in no small part to the four of you."

"So long, Henry," Dean said. He approached the bed and extended his hand for a shake. "Sammy and I will see you when our time comes. If Heaven lives up to its name, we'll buy you a beer."

Sam came forward and shook Henri's hand, too. Then Gail gave Henri a soft kiss on the forehead. "This isn't the end, Henri," she told him. "It's only the beginning. I'm proof of that. I died here on Earth just a few years ago and look at me now. I wouldn't necessarily advocate becoming an Angel as a way to advance your career, but it worked for me, anyway. No glass ceiling up there." She and Henri shared a laugh, and then she added, "I took your advice, Henri. I'll never let the white man keep me down."

Henri laughed again, but this time, his laughter turned into coughing, and his face screwed up with the pain that had brought. Gail felt terrible. She'd only been trying to keep his spirits up by using humour. "I'm sorry, Henri," she said quickly. "I'm so sorry."

He waved his hand dismissively as his coughing subsided. "Don't be, Gail. That's the best laugh I've had in a long time. Truth isn't the only thing that will defeat the Devil, little lady. Love and laughter will, too." Henri touched her face for a moment, and Gail's lower lip started to tremble as her eyes filled with tears again.

Cas had stepped back from Henri's bedside in order to make room for the others to have their moment with Henri. Now he moved forward again and took both of Henri's hands in his. "I don't know if I have the authority to do so, but I'm going to bless you, anyway," Cas told him with a gentle smile. "It's been a genuine pleasure meeting you, Henri. We'll see you in Heaven. Oh, and don't worry about giving us your address. I remember where you live."

Cas moved away from the bed and took Gail's hand, and the two Angels joined hands with Sam and Dean. "Au revoir," Henri said to them. "Merci bien."

"Nous t'aimons, Henri," Gail said softly. "We love you." They winked out of the room as he smiled.

"We'll leave for Romania in the morning," Cas told everyone when they got back to the bunker. He was tight-lipped and terse. His resolve to rid the Earth of Lucifer was even stronger now. Henri's situation had cast a pall over the room. No one felt like celebrating now.

"I've got some research material prepared," Tommy told him, and Cas sighed. "We'll go over it in the morning," he said. "I would advise our human friends to get as much sleep as you can. The last Tablet was not easy to obtain, and I fear the final two will be even more difficult. Now that we have successfully ejected Lucifer from Heaven, he will no doubt be extremely angry. I have no idea what he will attempt to do next." He grabbed one of the candlesticks from the library table with one hand, then took Gail's hand with the other. "Goodnight," Cas said, and then he winked them back to their house.

Cas put the candlestick back on their dining room table, then he turned to Gail. "Do you think there will ever be a day, even one single day, that we don't run the gamut of emotions for A to Z?" Gail asked him softly.

Cas took her in his arms. "I hope so," he told her. "I really, really hope so."

Lucifer, Mark and Jason stood in the forest, staring at the spot that Mark had led them to.

"Are you sure this is it?" Lucifer asked Mark irritably. "I don't see anything."

Mark limped up to where Lucifer was standing. When Lucifer had arrived back on Earth after being banished from Heaven, he had been furious. He'd left Mark behind, ostensibly to hold the fort, but Lucifer had been toying with the idea of just leaving him there. Mark was basically a millstone around his neck, a smarmy little kiss-ass who didn't enrich Lucifer's existence one iota. Lucifer only kept Mark around as an abject slave to do his bidding. Mark seemed to be labouring under the impression that he was important, somehow. Lucifer knew that Mark had been hoping to ride into Heaven on Lucifer's coattails and set up shop there, with a bevy of beautiful Angels to provide service to him, in every sense of the word. But if he was as useless in Heaven as he was on Earth, Mark could just stay on terra firma, as far as Lucifer was concerned.

But now that those damned Angels had turfed Lucifer's ass out of Heaven, he'd realized that he did need Mark for something. So after the Devil had had his temper tantrum and thrown Mark around the house for a bit, he had ordered Mark to bring him here. By then, Jason had turned up, so Lucifer had decided to bring him, too.

As he peered forward, Lucifer could see a slight ripple in-between two trees. Mark glared at Jason behind their boss's back. Jason was smirking. He'd flown out of the house as soon as he'd heard the first crash, and he'd only come back once he'd estimated the length of time it usually took for one of Lucifer's rages to subside. Let Mark receive the injuries. Jason had signed on to inflict pain, not to receive it. He was amused to witness the way that Mark was moving now. It served him right, the smarmy little sycophant. When Lucifer had gone up to Heaven, Mark had made the mistake of trying to treat Jason as his underling. He had only made that mistake once. Jason had tied Mark up, he had fed on him, and then he had taken Mark's Angel blade and toyed with him for a while, just as he had toyed with Gail in the cabin a couple of years ago. Suffice it to say that Mark had had a pre-existing condition or two when Lucifer had started to toss him around.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" Lucifer said. "Open it!"

Mark looked at him. He knew better than to argue, but he secretly wondered if Lucifer really knew what he was doing. Of course, it wasn't going to be Lucifer doing the cleaning up afterwards, was it? He sighed.

Jason moved forward to stand on the other side of the Portal. He had mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, there would be a lot of competition coming out of there. But on the other hand, Jason had been getting bored lately. He'd been flitting around here and there, randomly feeding on humans but doing little else. Things were certainly going to get a lot more interesting now.

He and Mark reached out and opened the Portal to Purgatory, wide.

\- END OF BOOK 20. -


End file.
